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An Allegory about Pulling Weeds
Pulling weeds in the backyard is a long and tedious process, especially if it’s north of 80 degrees out. Luckily even this mundane chore can be a source of inspiration. As I found myself on the hill this morning pulling weeds (as I have many times before), I conjured a simple allegory related to this outdoor chore and doing any task of your choice thoroughly, be it writing code, cleaning out the cellar, or writing a term paper for one of your courses. Here’s the story.
Imagine it’s the middle of July and two teenage brothers, Aaron and Ben, look for some work around the neighborhood to make a bit of extra cash. They head to opposite sides of their neighborhood and start knocking on people’s doors to offer to pull weeds in their backyards for a negotiable fee. Aaron eventually agrees to clear the weeds in Mr. Jones’s backyard for $20, and Ben makes the same deal with Mr. Bennett. They get to work around the same time, and the two backyards are about the same size, but Aaron finishes his task in an hour, while Ben takes three. When they return home Ben is considerably dirtier and sweatier than his brother but can’t figure out why.
A week later Mr. Jones calls Aaron demanding a refund. It turns out all the weeds grew back right away, and now Ben realizes why it took him so much longer to complete his task. He dug down into the dirt to clear out all the roots of every…