"Children watch out for the baobabs!"
In chapter five the Little Prince describes treacherous plants called baobabs. He explains how good seeds and bad seeds are on his planet. The good seeds turn into good plants and the bad seeds turn into bad plants. If the bad plants continue to grow they can ruin and even destroy the planet.
There are always good and bad seeds being planted throughout our lives. It is our responsibility to weed out the bad seeds before they become treacherous to ourselves and others.
We all struggle with the good and the bad. Distinguishing between good and bad is always hard at first. The Little Prince describes how when the seeds first sprout up it is still hard to differentiate the good plants from the bad plants. So the first step to weeding out the bad plants is learning how to recognize them. Usually we have someone teaching us right from wrong, good from bad.
Of all the aspects of religion I truly respect the ethic/moral values it can instill in someone. Although these sometimes get lost or overrun by rules it is better to have some sort of moral values than none at all. These ethics or morals would be the good seeds and sin would be the bad seeds. Religions, not all but most, tend to focus on what the sins are instead of focusing on what good decisions to make. Although they do talk about what good deeds need to be done people end up worrying about what they shouldn't be doing.
"Now, no matter what the mullah teaches, there is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft... When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness... There is no act more wretched than stealing, Amir."
This passage from The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini is one of my favorites to describe a universal moral code. Amir's father describes to him that regardless of what their cultural religion teaches theft is the only sin that we commit. I find this statement very true and useful in regards to my daily decisions. I constantly think about what I might be stealing from others. Sometimes depending on the decision you can even end up stealing from yourself.
Neglecting your health you steal time from yourself. Staying in an abusive relationship you steal your mental,physical, and emotional health from yourself.
Pulling weeds is one of my favorite things to do. Weed pulling is stress relieving and is great time to myself, not to mention a great workout. When it comes to pulling weeds within my life it's not very stress relieving at first and not very enjoyable. Making decisions as to what would be best for my mind, body, heart and soul is very difficult. I have to say I have made some super tough decisions. The hardest decisions I've made are deciding on whether certain people should be a part of my life. I have to say as hard as those decisions were they definitely have improved my life. So in the end making difficult decisions can be stress relieving.
So Watch Out For The Baobabs! Learn how to recognize the weeds in your life. Learn when and how to remove those weeds before they become too destructive.
