The Great Divide

This is not a political blog.  Although I have my opinions, at least in this forum, I try to keep them to myself.  Here's why:  One would have to say in terms of division, the only time that our nation has been split like it is now was during the Civil War. These days there seems to be no civil discourse. You can't simply agree to disagree. Those with differing opinions often resort to name-calling, yelling, rioting, and violence.  Often those with opposing viewpoints have their speech censored.  Urban versus Rural, Black versus White, Christian versus non-Christian, Left versus Right, et cetera, et cetera.  When those from "different walks of life" mix, trouble ensues.

I find that it is no different in the garden.  Below you can see a lush jungle consisting of two different varieties of sweet potatoes (Beauregard and Golden Wonder) that come up every year in the north part of the garden.  No one has to plant sweet potato slips, they just sprout up every year and keep us stocked up with bins of sweet potatoes.  Also in the jungle of vines below are two other things that came up volunteer (without being intentionally planted) - a Jack-Be-Little pumpkin and a New England Sugar Pie pumpkin.

At least initially, the sweet potato vines and the pumpkin vines stay in their own locale, growing happily, and minding their own business.  There is a clear division where the sweet potatoes grow and where other crops can grow.  The rows to the right in the photo below are where the potatoes were just harvested.  I'm planning on planting purple hull peas, blackeyed peas, and some pole beans in the now empty rows once occupied by the potatoes.

But the sweet potatoes have other thoughts.  As seen in the photo below, a Beauregard Sweet Potato vine has decided to encroach upon the space reserved for beans and peas.  You can see it testing the waters, reaching out its vine southward to populate and over-run areas intended for peas and beans.  Sweet potato vines don't respect other crops growing in the garden. If it meets no resistance, it will put down roots and send out more vines and soon will over-run the entire garden, crowding out anything and everything in its path.

But it doesn't have to be a zero-sum game.  The sweet potato winning doesn't have to come at the expense of the peas and beans.  Both can respect the other and win. Rather than having an entire garden of sweet potatoes, we can have a healthy plot of sweet potatoes, a few rows of peas and beans as well as all other types of vegetables and herbs we grow.  Although I love sweet potatoes, how boring it would be if that's all that I grew!

So it is with the division in our nation.  We should respect one another - even when we have differences.  We should not try to over-run or crowd out those who may differ with us in some fashion or another.  We can all live together and thrive where we are planted.  In so doing, our harvest will be a healthy one, containing a diverse crop of all shapes and colors.