Blades of Grass

Is it greener on the other side?

The GRASS is not greener on the other side?

Blame this blog on climate change... Los Angeles, where I live, has reduced watering days to two days a week of watering your lawn! It really doesn't apply to me; you see, we got rid of our lawn a while back and replaced most of the space with drought-friendly and native plants, threw in a drip system and some mulch, and almost every plant is still OK. Now, we'd be golden if the heat could just get turned down a skosh! My neighbors, however… well… their lawns are starting to look more like a desert landscape than lush green lawns!

So, as you may know, I'm in the midst of a big career move. Going from one academic institution into another educational institution (details perhaps in another blog down the road). Anyway, I was driving by one of these "lawns." I started thinking about the saying "The grass is greener on the other side," or as some say, "The grass isn't always greener on the other side," or my favorite version, "the grass is the greenest where you water it."" Well, what does all this mean? The phrase comes from the Greek poet Ovid (I had to look this up). The original saying was, "The harvest is always richer in another man's field."

These days we use the grass phrase to indicate a time of possible transition where what awaits us isn't always better than what we have. I'm sure it's been used effectively to keep the status quo or keep people where they are. I'm sure some of those times, the phrase has saved people from great regret and heartache. Other times, I'm almost positive that it has kept people from fulfilling their potential. So, where am I going with all this? Well, what if we are looking at it all wrong, or perhaps the phrase is misleading? I don't know about the grass in your yard or your neighbors' yard, but the grass in my neighborhood doesn't water itself! No matter how well you prep that soil and get the highest quality grass, that grass still needs to be watered! Don't water it, and it lives in a drought; it's going to dry up and die! So, what if, in this phrase, we are not actually the lawn caretakers, but we ARE the individual blades of GRASS? Regardless of your potential, if your environment is not nourishing you, watering you, if you're not getting enough sun, and supporting your growth… it's going to kill you (not literally… well…?). But if you are quality grass and you are cared for, nourished, watered, fed… You will grow and thrive, and like any other grass occasionally crapped on!

So is the grass greener on the other side… the answer is… Sometimes! The question should be, will the environment support the type of grass you are? Because even the hardiest grass still needs water, sun, nutrients…