Real and Relatable
Walking in my neighborhood on a beautiful spring morning, I noticed something interesting. There was a beautiful house with an even more beautiful lawn. The lawn caught my attention from a distance. It looked like in a picture. The perfect green color with evenly mown grass that looked disciplined and trained ( i know disciplined and trained are not the right adjectives for grass but, interestingly, those are the words that i thought of).
As I walked closer to it, the beauty looked too good to be true. I looked at the lawns in the neighboring houses. They were all less green, a little more uneven and much more relatable and real (again, relatable is not an adjective to describe grass, but that is the word that came to my mind).
I quickly walked past it when I noticed that it was an artificial lawn. I felt it was not right to compare that lawn with the neighbors’ lawns because they are two different breeds.
Here, I am not judging people who have artificial lawns in front of their houses. In fact, I have had one in a small part of my previous home. It was easy to maintain and looked good. My grass would never turn yellow and it would never have weeds growing in between them. The only thing I had to remember was that there was no point watering that lawn because no matter how much I watered it, that grass would never grow. That grass would never tell me it was spring. It would never have birds and butterflies sitting on it. It would never smell like how freshly mowed lawn would smell.
The artificial lawn was able to get my attention and admiration, but, not able to sustain either. When I came home, I had to take off my shoes and walk on my lawn which did not look the way the other one did, but, it definitely felt so much better. The little weeds in between, the small bald patches and the little flowers that popped up here and there, didn’t look disciplined and trained. But they looked relatable and real. I picked up a dandelion and blew it all on the lawn.
Real and relatable requires maintenance and care. But that is what can keep our attention and admiration for a long, long time (maybe, forever).
Comments
That’s a very good point, Deepa! What is easy is not always what is best. I know you used a lawn as an example, but I also know you were talking about so much more. And I completely agree!
A lovely post, Reena. In many parts of the US, we are being encouraged to “plant” artificial grass as a way to save precious water. From that perspective, the plastic grass is beautiful and caring and respectful of our planet’s limited resources. Isn’t it funny how perspective can change? I love real grass too and it makes me happy, but plastic grass has its uses! Ha ha. Beautiful post.