hedgehog-moss:

I don’t often think of issues in terms of generations, e.g boomers vs. millennials, but one thing that does correlate with your generation (in my family at least) is how you feel about unkempt grass. Never had someone from my generation or younger have a negative opinion about the tall grass around my house, while relatives from my parents’ generation are so bothered by it. They keep offering to mow when they visit, or even do it as a nice surprise, taking it for granted that everyone wants their grass to be 3cm tall. There are beaten paths from my house to the barn, the coop, etc. so it’s not like you’re wading through a sea of grass to get there, but that’s not enough, the mere presence of untrimmed grass near a human dwelling is offensive and unaesthetic. They’ll accept some of my arguments in favour of it but then add “it doesn’t look nice though” like that’s an established fact and not an opinion…

There’s a moral element to it too, like letting nature do its thing is perceived as lazy. Also I once tried to say I find the wildflowers under my window as nice-looking as neat flower beds would be and my uncle said “it makes it look like no one lives there” so maybe it’s an existential thing. Affirm your presence in the world by cutting the pre-existing flowers and planting your own. I don’t know, I’m not sure what made that generation so hostile to natural-looking vegetation but I’m glad this stance doesn’t seem nearly as widely shared among younger people.