Why Do We Hate Dandelions?

 In the spring most of us feel a sense of release, a sense of freedom. For those of us who go to school or work in the context of a school year schedule, this feeling can be especially strong. For those of us who live in climates with a harsher winter, that feeling intensifies yet again. It's not that our winters are entirely devoid of joy. We spend them as wisely as we can, reading books under warm blankets, braving the cold on occasion for some fresh air, and enjoying each other's company as much as possible. But too much of our winters are spent scraping the thick layers of ice off our windshields, which build up again day after day, no matter how many times we've scraped them before. So when the sun finally begins to shine on a little longer, and the beautiful green grass and trees come back to life before our eyes, we are taken with the sensation of new beginnings, and of possibility. 

Then, just when so many of us are finally feeling something akin to optimism, our beautiful fresh green lawns become spotted with yellow. First only here and there along the sides of buildings, then more and more until blankets of yellow have swept across the flawless landscape of carefully maintained suburban lawns. Our lawnscape has become a field of dandelions. 

An early spring dandelion hugging the side of a warm brick building. 

People really hate dandelions. They do anything they can to get rid of them. They try mowing their lawns extra short (usually resulting in an extra brown looking lawn). They dig up their lawns to get at the impressive 10 inch dandelion taproot (which leaves lawns uneven an pockmarked). They spray aggressive chemicals (the results of which none of us really feel like thinking about right now). All because... 

Because why? 

The beginnings of the dreaded dandelion wildflower field. 

We dislike dandelions because they invade a space that we feel we can tame and control. Is the home lawn a reflection of our experience being adrift in an endless, possibly meaningless universe? Is it a reflection of our desire to control and create order in just one little corner of our experiences? And dandelions, those unrelenting invaders, ruin everything with a notable strength that brings them back into our perfectly ordered monotone space, no matter how hard we fight them. They seem so fragile, yet we can't get rid of them. 

I suggest, that just for a moment, we let our minds drift back to when we were kids. Is there no part of us left that finds joy in disorder? No part of us that wants to pluck these bright yellow fighters and bring them inside as a silly gift for someone we care about? No part of us that wants to blow at the billowy white seeds, watch them float through the air, and make a wish as they scatter and land?

A pretty flower, bringing sunshine into your home. 

I suggest a radical shift in thought, even if it's just temporary. I suggest that we let the chaos in. I think that if we do, we will again find joy in the disorder. The natural world has a way of challenging and calming us, if we can only find ways to live alongside and within it, instead of fighting against it as if we are somehow separate from it. I know that in the context of our modern world and obligations, this is more easily said than done. But I can't and won't believe that it is impossible. 

When we pause and leave ourselves open to getting to know the dandelion as anything other than an annoyance, we find that they actually have many uses. 

 I think I know the truth. I think we hate dandelions because they are strong. I invite you to remember this the next time you face opposition or judgement. Why are people making you feel this way? Is it justified, or are you, perhaps like the gentle warrior dandelion - the teeth of the lion,- too strong for them?