Mariner is a gardener. He has a Masters from Junk University (YouTube). So right off the top, he will acknowledge that most Homos are weeds. To give credit where credit is due, some weeds can be useful and attractive; In some cases, it is not the fault of some very attractive and useful plants that they become weeds.

For example, the mulberry tree is attractive and produces tasty, edible berries. The issue is that tens of thousands of birds eat the berries and discard hundreds of thousands of seeds across God’s Kingdom – which includes every existing gardener. As every Junk University graduate knows, there will be a fast growing, lanky and aggressive mulberry tree every six inches in the flower bed. Like dandelions, the entire root must be recovered or it grows back.

Social Media is a weed. Like the mulberry tree, it is a controllable tree that can be useful. But it’s those damned thousands of wrens and sparrows who use the tree to spread crap all over the world that make it a disruptive weed.

Some weeds are like some members of a family where most members of the family are normal and behave in acceptable ways. Then there are the weeds – obnoxious, aggressive, selfish, disruptive members of the family. Consider crabgrass.

Crabgrass is a member of the Digitaria genus, which is part of the Poaceae family, commonly known as the grass family. This family includes over 10,000 species of flowering plants, many of which are cultivated for lawns and agriculture.

Everyone knows how beautiful a well kept lawn can be. It is also true that in the Homo family, many families are bred (educated) to produce grasses that are helpful and make the world a better, more attractive place. But there are members of the family, like harebrained Presidents and weird growing Representatives from Georgia that can tear up a nice lawn in weeks. These family members grow fast by spreading seeds with the same sparrows and also are more discreet in that they send out unseen aggressive roots to push aside existing grass.

Well, it’s October. Time to use a carefully prepared weedkiller (violence, conflict) but more effective is for you political gardeners to get out the trowel and the secateurs, get involved and clean out the weeds. In Homo terms, be physically involved in local political activities, guarantee a fair election and pull the weeds out. Always reseed your lawn after this operation (vote in some good grass).

Ancient Mariner