It Never Stops

Yesterday, I walked outside, across my yard to the gate, so I could go out and get in my vehicle. I noticed that the grass was really high. OK, a little background. I want my sons to learn responsbility and to earn their keep. I no longer mow the yard; that is their job. Son #1 spent the last week at church camp. The week before that, we were variously engaged in other activities, and so our yard has gotten a bit overgrown.
If we lived in town, like crazy people do, the local HOA would probably be pitching a fit about how badly we need to get the mower out and put it to work. Luckily, we are out in the middle of nowhere, so the only folks who have to complain about it getting a bit trashy are those of us who live here.
But regardless, tomorrow morning, probably about the time this goes live on the site, the boys and I will be outside taking care of business.
And yet, as I noticed how bad it was today, I thought to myself, “but it has only been a few weeks since we mowed!”
Folks, that is the nature of grass. Unless you just flat out kill it, it is going to keep growing. You can cut it today, but before too long, you will have to do it again. Once we are finished, we will look like we live in civilization again, but now, we live in a mini-Amazon rain forest.
And that is just what civilization does. It beats back the jungle. It carves out a place where decent folks can live and prosper. But the nature of the jungle is to keep growing and reclaim what was previously tamed. If you do not stay on top of it, it will eventually take back what it has lost.
Sadly, Western Civilization, over the past century, has gotten lazy, much like I have with the yard. We have hired out our maintenance to people who do not really want to work, and never take care of the job. They talk about how good they cut the grass. They laud their weed-eating abilities, but in the end, all they are is talk. In fact, some of them have probably been sneaking weeds into the yard, introducing foreign plants that will take over. If you try to clean it up yourself, they pull out the contract that designates them as the yard-keepers, all the while doing nothing.
It is time to take back our responsiblity and mow the grass. And it time we take back our responsibility and beat back the jungle that has been creeping back into our culture.
This is not a one-time job. It never stops. Once we clean things up, we have to be vigilant and keep it maintained. I pray we learn from our father’s, and grandfather’s, mistakes. May we never again contract our responsiblities out to others. And if we must do so, we should hold them to their end of the bargain. Otherwise, the jungle wins. And that is good for no one.
So we mow the grass. So Men of the West fight for their culture.