Did you hear about the weed seed experiment at Michigan State University? 20 bottles of weed seeds were buried by a botanist in 1879 to see how long weed seeds can last in the soil. This year bottle #15 was unearthed, opened, and, yes, weeds are sprouting.
I wonder how long the weed seeds of anger, irritation, confusion, lust, desire, and impatience last? Every time one of those weedy words flies off my tongue, it begins an invisible journey touching not only the person who is listening, but unknown others.
Like the story about the boss yelling at the worker, the employee comes home and yells at their spouse who in turn yells at their child, who then kicks the dog.
I can track the aversion weed in my family back to before 1879. I “caught” it from my father, who caught it from his father, who caught it from his father….
All the more reason to water seeds of kindness and compassion.