Shall I Compare Thee to a Dandelion?

I think that poor people are kind of like dandelions-beautiful but many of us do not realize it. Now, I don't want this to come off like I'm some bourgeoisie princess talking about the poor. First of all, I would definitely not be considered part of the bourgeoisie class; I have college loans to pay off, am working two jobs, etc. But, when I write, I do have in my mind a vision of the proletariat class as described by Marx-wage earners who have been alienated from their labor. Let me specify a few more things. 1) I am not a Communist, although I do think that Marx makes some interesting observations with some truth behind them, but overall, I think that his theories of historical materialism are too reductionistically simple. I also do not think that the means he proposes to ensure that the proletariat class will abolish bourgeoisie private property are appropriate, and I sincerely believe that, taking into account such things as the news, things that have happened to my family, etc., communism would not work with such a large population and the selfish nature of many humans. As my uncle Bryan says, "I sincerely believe power corrupts."
(Aside) Anyways...having said all of this, I do commend Marx on his description of the proletariat. However, I do think that Marx's ideas of alienated of wage earners and the way these laborers become a mere extension of the machine they are operating can be applied in a more abstract manner than Marx would see fit. For example, are not the lawyers who think they are going to be working to save the environment, but now find themselves sitting in an over-sized leather chair writing briefs for Shell, alienated from their labor? People like this are certainly alienated from their labor because they are not passionate for it (they are not passionate because they would rather be helping the environment than helping big companies get away with polluting it), and thus do not have a connection with what they do, other than it connects them to financial security. And while these lawyers may not literally be operating machines, the "machine" that they had envisioned operating ("machine" in this example being a system that fosters positive environmental change) is not the one they find themselves running. As they hand over a brief that argues against increased funding for non-renewables and watch a gray smokestack in the background belch out clouds of sulfurous pollution into the air, they are totally and utterly alienated, and their heart may as well be ripped out, lying bleeding on the floor. I make this point only to illustrate that I think many people in America are in a dire situation, and sadly, many are alienated from their labor and do not truly love what they do.

(Sorry, I am not going to delve into the issue of the poor being alienated from their labor, I must try to stay somewhat on track). I would now like to describe the "poor" I will use analogously with dandelions. I would like to talk about the very materially poor. (Alright, go ahead and accuse me of being a historical materialist). But wait-Don't! Because I do not just mean materially poor, because I notice a brilliant character in these people who happen to be materially poor. A character that does not just come from their economic situation (people who are not poor may have this character as well), but I feel like many poor people have this character because...well, I don't really know why. And I will argue it's not just because of their economic situation, but maybe it is. In my life, however, I have come to find that things are usually not this simple (i.e. either it's their economic situation or not.) Ah, I am getting side-tracked though, because this is not really what I wanted to talk about. so...on with comparing these people to flowers.
As I let my car glide down my driveway, which stretches from the top of a hill where I live to the road that winds down a more gentle slope, something pretty and bright caught my eyes-dandelions. They had popped up along the edges of my driveway, right where the thick green grass fades into the gravel, which then leads to an abrupt few-inched wall of concrete, marking the beginning of the driveway. I enjoyed the beauty of these flowers for a moment, but then thought with a pang of sadness, soon everyone will start crusading against these flowers. Forget the pitchforks, hand me the spade and Weed B Gon please. Think about it, killing flowers, doesn't that sound kind of atrocious?
Now I know you're probably wondering, the poor people, the poor people, what about the poor people?! Alright, now it's time to get a little abstract. People get rid of dandelions because they are weeds, the definition of which is simply a plant nout of place. People usually kill these weeds because they just want to get them out of sight, because they want their plush, luxurious, rich green lawns to come forth and flourish. That is like how many of the rich want the poor to be out of sight; then they're out of mind. Because when the poor are involved in the lives of the rich, they are weeds, they are out of the place; go back to the slums, poor people, you are soiling my new oriental rug.

Come to think of it, who can live their exuberant lifestyle while constantly having the plight of the poor on their minds? What downers the poor can be, huh? But let's get serious. This is not meant to be a rich-bashing blog; I just see that America has serious issues. And expand the sphere of my ideas to incorporate not only America, but also the entire world, good Lord, I have just become part of the "rich" who stomp the beautiful little yellow flowers out of their minds. I love the poor, I really do. I have a deep passion for these people. I do think that they are beautiful, in fact, the word "beautiful" sickens me a bit to use in conjuction with the word poor because I know that it does not do them justice. Splendid could be a better word. But really, their beauty transcends that of words. It's like the more I get to know them, the more awful I think they are (awful meaning that they bring about awe in me of them). Let's face it though, certainly I do not spend every waking moment of every day agonizing over the extreme hardships the poor face, (although there are certainly moments when I do agonize), and certainly there are more things that I could do to help the poor. In this way, I partake in the dandelion killing, if you will. I say to myself, self, I don't want these dandelions growing in my mind. And perhaps the difference between me and others is that I pluck the dandelions out, but they grow back, and I don't think I will ever fully be able to, even if I wanted to, exterminate the dandelions completely. But others, they get the Weed B Gon in an effort to rid of the dandelions for vast stretches of time. They are not aiming to escape thinking about the poor for a while; they are trying to suppress and extinguish a huge part of the reality of our world. The reality being that these ("these" could mean both dandelions and the poor) do exist and we try to get rid of them because they burden us. They interfere with our desire to achieve these perfect little lives. Because, and now here's the kicker, how can we really attain all of the glorious possessions we yearn for while taking into consideration the plight of the poor.

For example, while we gorge ourselves on food at restaurants, from Taco Bell to the Ruth Chris Steakhouse, others are wasting away, getting no food, yet still struggling to survive by filling up their stomachs with clay plates. And you know as well as I do, many times, when we go out to eat, we could have donated this money to others. And before I digress too much, please understand that I do realize that just throwing money at problems doesn't make them go away, and that people work hard for their money and feel entitled to spend it, bla, bla, bla. I understand. But, I, once again, just want to get you to think about some things. Look at where we put our priorities, look at what we let agonize us the most. "Oh man, I am so stressed out, I might not get an A in this class!" (That was and still is me by the way.) Well Good Lord child! Wake up and smell the roses! Other people's stress comes from things like "Oh shoot, I can't find anything to eat today, the water is contaminated, and it just gave my baby a lethal disease." And so the poor, how dare they intrude into our already stressful lives and weigh on our consciences and interfere with our plans of attaining the things that we want! I don't want to re-arrange or change my life for you, so...A shot of Weed B Gon for you! Ah, yes, much better, now I can worry about saving up enough money to buy those cute Coach shoes and get that new Michael Buble CD and study study study for my classes. So we continue in this type of lifestyle. We spray and we pluck, we pull and we rip. We rid of these beautiful dandelions; we kill beauty. And that is so sad to me.
If you have time, I would encourage you to take a closer look at a dandelion. Notice its little yellow tendrils and delicate fuzzy middle. Look at how alive it is. Look at its thick green stock. Feel the softness of the petals. They are beautiful. The poor are beautiful. Out of sight out of mind mentality is analogous to the destruction of dandelions; both of these things kill beauty in a sense. They both mark something that is really beautiful as an ugly burden. They both condemn something as being ugly and strive to get rid of it because it interferes with consumptive lifestyle choices and conceptions of beauty that revolve around materials desired; in short, taking the "ugly" into consideration requires considering others-than-ourselves (Simone Weil or Dr. McIntosh anyone?), something that we seem to refuse to do anytime it's "too hard" for us.
I challenge you to re-think your conceptions of beauty and ugliness, and examine what you think is "too hard" when it comes to thinking about others. I'm not saying you should go all rebellious on me and seize your parents garden implements and stash them under your bed and gather up all Weed B Gon and hide it under your floorboards in an effort to save "the others" (the "others" being dandelions (Simone DeBeauvoir lol)); that is not really the point. My point of using this analogy was not to rally around saving the lives of dandelions (although I certainly do look at them differently now), but rather, to get people to look at the poor differently, to become more aware of the injustices in the world. Now, maybe I should have put this at the beginning of my blog, so people would have had a clearer ideas of my intentions, but, I'm sorry to say it (well, maybe not that sorry) but my writing doesn't always work that way. When I just sit down and go like this, my writing is more of an evolution. I have an idea of what I want to say, but as I write my ideas are tweaked and some fade away, while others blossom from the murky depths of my mind and hidden recesses of my soul ;)

Anywho, I'm really big into getting people to think about things. And if you ask me, "well, how can I do anything about anything" and then say, "I can't change anything, I'm only one person." I will say balderdash. And then I will point you to my favorite example of a person who radically rocked the world and epitomizes the ideals of justice, love, and peace. If you do not believe in this beautiful man (Jesus), please do not be offended by what I am saying. Maybe give him a chance though, I mean, you never know. Just saying. Anyways, He is splendid. He knew how to love. He can really teach you more than I will ever be able to. Before I go on and on about this, I will wrap up for now, although I will undoubtedly say more about this in times to come. So remember the poor when you see a dandelion, and even when the dandelions are not present, remember the poor. Instead of pushing the poor aside with our increasingly consumptive lifestyles, I feel like we should begin to "live simply so that others can simply live." Thank you, now please put the Weed B Gon down. Thankyousomuch :)