Selling Out, or Standing Up?

**your_comforting_company** · 03-24-2010, 04:55 PM

I've been thinking about this long and hard this week.

I love nature. I love weeds more than ornamentals. I have little use for "pretty flowers" and rather grow things I can eat. Am I picking favorites? Maybe so.

This week I've been doing yard work. We trim and prune the pretty things in folks yards.. stuff you can't eat. Stuff that serves no purpose other than something to look at, or for your neighbors to look at.. so you make them covet your pretty flowers.

We walk around and spray toxic chemicals all over the yard. Each weed gets a good dose of some petroleum based toxic chemical to kill it. I can't tell you how many wild edibles I've killed this week. I can tell you that every one that I spray breaks my heart. I make a point to call aloud the latin name of each plant before I spray it. (Ok, that might be a little OCD..

)So I pose the question to you all.

Are you willing to do something that goes against your grain? Something you believe against, to get the almighty dollar?
I hate doing it, but right now it's the difference between keeping the lights on and a vehicle on the road, and being dark and cold and walking everywhere.
Have I sold out to the almighty dollar yet again?

I feel bad about it. I really do. I've thought about it really hard today and it's eating at me. But you gotta pay the bills. I guess that's where I draw the line. I gotta make sure my kids are taken care of NO MATTER WHAT.
think about other folks that do things they may not believe is "right". They do things that are "wrong" so that they can make money for the same reasons. I'd bet Crash feels this way every time he has to kill a honeybee hive, but what's a guy gonna do? Crash, if you find something to kill gnats, I'm all ears, err.. my ears are all gnats, so I'm all gnats

I'm certain they have some place in the food chain that has been interrupted by pesticides, or other poisons, but MAN they are irritating..

**Ken** · 03-24-2010, 04:59 PM

Originally Posted by your_comforting_company

)So I pose the question to you all.

Are you willing to do something that goes against your grain? Something you believe against, to get the almighty dollar?

You know what I do for a living, right?

**2dumb2kwit** · 03-24-2010, 05:15 PM

Originally Posted by Ken

You know what I do for a living, right?

Now that's funny, right there! LOL

YCC, there are some very knowledgeable people, on this forum, but I'll bet you that not one of them can name a plant that is more important than a child.

**BENESSE** · 03-24-2010, 05:16 PM

Originally Posted by your_comforting_company

Are you willing to do something that goes against your grain? Something you believe against, to get the almighty dollar?
I hate doing it, but right now it's the difference between keeping the lights on and a vehicle on the road, and being dark and cold and walking everywhere.
Have I sold out to the almighty dollar yet again?.

I wouldn't do anything illegal or immoral.
Short of that, if my family's survival depended on me I'd do whatever it took--from killing wild edibles to putting up with A-holes and everything in between.
Almighty dollar ain't that bad if it keeps the lights on and the kids fed.

**Rick** · 03-24-2010, 05:19 PM

We all do it, YCC. Life is a series of trade offs. It might be where you live or what you do but we all violate, to some degree, our personal wants and desires in favor of obtaining something else; an education for our children, a better place for them to live, more money, a better home and the list goes on. It's called life. Don't beat yourself up.

**crashdive123** · 03-24-2010, 05:49 PM

YCC - as you know - the gnats of the south are just flying teeth.

Seriously though - You do what you have to do, within your moral compass to take care of your family. I can't pretend to know how you feel regarding the weeds, but let me ask this - is it any less noble for that weed to be destroyed in order to provide for your family than it is to be consumed by you to only provide for yourself? I think that you are doing the absolute correct thing. In both cases your efforts are meant to sustain life.

As far as killing the bees. I wish there was a better way. The last bee job I did was to destroy a hive that was in the walls and ceiling of a childs room. Protecting that child was much higher on my list than protecting those bees.

**wareagle69** · 03-24-2010, 06:10 PM

i feel your pain my freind, we are brothers in our search and desire to learn nature,but i am responsible for the destruction for thousands of trees every year, i work in the pulp and paper industry, but i have learned allot about trees by working there, i can look at a pile of wood chips and tell ya if its hardwood or softwood. ya gotta pay the bills, its a shame that folks don't share our passion.

**Winnie** · 03-24-2010, 06:21 PM

I'd just like to echo what others have said. Sometimes you have to put your feelings aside to look after the family, don't beat ourself up about it. OK it doesn't always sit well, but you could always offset your work by planting more in your own garden, sort of weed offsetting.

I think most of us have at one time or another faced the same dilemma, all I can say is unless civilisation goes back to an era pre- money, it's a necessary part of our everyday life.

**Rick** · 03-24-2010, 06:52 PM

I wonder if the cheetah feels that way about the gazelle?

**Pal334** · 03-24-2010, 07:19 PM

It would be great to be in a utopia, with no conflicts. I say the only limiter has been if it is legal and moral. Other than that sometimes you have to "suck it up" and do something you otherwise might not. As your circumstances improve you then have the opportunity to tune in more "limiters". I feel you pain, stick with it, whatever it takes to take care of the home fires.

**Rick** · 03-24-2010, 07:51 PM

I guess you could flip that question around. What if you refused to work those jobs because you have principles against killing weeds that could be eaten. How would THAT impact your kids and is it right for them to be impacted?

**Ted** · 03-24-2010, 08:29 PM

YCC, my freind, it's hard, very hard, I know! But you gotta do, what you gotta do, for the family!

Now when the kids are all grown up and out of the picture, well feel free to spray that s**t in the home owners face and say, "HOW DO YOU LIKE IT,HUH, HUH, WANT SOME MORE! ISN'T IT LOVELY!"

**your_comforting_company** · 03-24-2010, 09:53 PM

Sounds like I got some gears turning. That's a good thing. I realize that it's something we all do, probably on a daily basis. Some more than others. I have to agree that as long as it's not "immoral or illegal" it's fair game. I can't help beat myself up about it, just because it does go against the grain. We've got things that we hold close to our hearts, but my kids are a lot closer than the weeds in those yards, because I know they have sanctuary in mine (at least till I gobble them up!)
Life is full of choices. Moment by moment, we weigh our priorities. We might not like it, but at the end of the day you just have to look back and say "I did good, and I'll do it again tomorrow". I was just really wondering if anyone else fights that battle inside, or if I'm just wierd lol.
Thanks for the replies. I hope we all keep these things in mind as we go through our days.