Sun Baked

Ah, the things that eventually click.

As I drove Domi home a couple of days ago we started analyzing the sweet potato fields we were passing. Catching glimpses and instantly saying, "That's a nice looking filed", or "I'm sooo glad I don't have to weed that." In the midst of our critique Domi basically said, " You know, most people wouldn't be able to do what we're doing. We can look at a field and from a distance know how bad it would be, but most people wouldn't be able to do that."

I realized (almost a week later) what an oddly profound observation this is. It's true, through years of work we've learned to identify a weed from a sweet potato plant. (It was that or Dad stopping the truck and making you get out and get the solitary survivor sticking up on your way home. And as a kid, after 5 hours in the field in the summer, the cool floor of home was heaven). Over time we even learned names to identify what we were pulling.

But even with this experience and knowledge a field can be deceptive and lull you to sleep until you wade into it.  No matter how clean or weedy a field looks, it doesn't always tell you what's lurking under the plants. The little one's you can't see 'til you're up close. Sometimes the worst looking fields are the easier ones. Sometimes what you think from a distance is a weed turns out to be an extra bushy potato plant. People (and situations) are a lot like the field.

A day or two after this discussion we were chatting while weeding, and started talking about psychology. Domi made this statement, "When we see a stranger do something rude, or wrong, we instantly blame it on some internal character flaw. But when we're rude or wrong we blame it on external circumstances."

Here's the example he gave. "You see someone cut off an old lady on their way out the door, you instantly think, 'what a jerk' or 'someone never learned manners'. But if you did that you would justify it with something like 'I"m in a hurry because my wife's having a baby'".

You can't see the inside of a person until you get to know them. (Or often in a situation's case until you're in the midst of it).

The other thing about the field is, it can look pretty, but you never know what the crop will look like 'til you harvest.

Oh and for the record, that's not my hula-hoe. Mine is definitely much more battle worn. And if you think we can't tell who's is who's, think again. Someone else's hula-hoe just doesn't feel right.