Weeds

A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, die gallantly. Specialization is for insects.

-Robert A. Heinlein

The dandilion is the all-American weed. Credit: Krista-Glizdeniec, Pexels

I’ve done most of these. I have never conned a ship but I have sailed a boat. The buildings I designed were never built. I didn’t butcher a hog, but it can’t be too much different from a deer. The invasions I have planned were tabletop wargames. The only two things I have absolutely never done are setting a bone or dying. I know how to set a bone in theory and dying is easy.

I am a weed. I suppose I should be proud of it. I am also a very minor specialist in a few things.

A weed is often defined as any plant that grows where you don’t want it. I suppose I am a weed that way as well. I have never felt like I truly fit in anywhere. Credit: Chris F., Pexels

The human equivalent of a weed is the Jack/Jill of all trades. They might also be an expert on something but the key to being a weed is that no problem arises that leaves the person completely baffled. (A genius weed is often called a polymath.)