More bikepath garden thefts

[veronique4.livejournal.com]

Two more plants lifted from the gardens--a lavender plant and a poppy plant (total out of my pocket about $12). Also, last night someone came along (between 5 pm and 10 pm and cut about 60 poppies from the large patch that my gardening partner went to great lengths this summer to cultivate. Red, pink, yellow, and white poppies were cut; the orange were left. How bizarre. People have been loving those poppies--especially kids.

Please take pictures if you see anyone stealing plants or messing around in the gardens at odd hours. It's a violation of the entire community that enjoys these gardens each day.

Am ready to give up. Just can't deal with these petty thieves anymore.

Comments

[turil.livejournal.com]

It's a hard lesson to learn. Entropy (oftentimes helped along by humans) is always out there. Enjoy what you can while it lasts, and don't get too attached. Especially to material things, for they are the bits of life that change the most frequently.

I do appreciate your intent to create an enjoyable and interesting space for the community, as I'm sure many do. And I can only hope that those plants are now simply brightening up the community somewhere else, and that the neighbors of the person who relocated them are appreciating them as well.

Perhaps next time you plant, if you still want to, you could use free and/or inexpensive plants raised from seed, rather than spending so much on store bought plants (if the money is an issue, which it sounds like it is for you, since you mentioned it). Many gardeners have leftover seedlings that they'd be happy to donate to the community greenspaces. Have you talked to the Sommerville Garden Club? They have lots of members who might be willing to help you out.

And, I think a "lost plants" sign might be kind of interesting. You know, a parody of a lost cat sign. To raise awareness, in an appealing and amusing way. "Lost Lavender Plant: last seen on the community path. Much loved and missed. If you find our small, pleasantly scented friend, please return her to her home." :-)

[rosiewoodboat.livejournal.com]

The original poster is a constant contributor to the Somerville Garden Club, and the bike path community garden. She has volunteered huge amounts of her time (and money) to these projects.

[turil.livejournal.com]

Great. So she's already got a lot of connections for support in making it easier and more affordable to keep planting, if it's something she wants to do. That garden club is great, isn't it?

Very good "judo" response.

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

Well done :)

What?

[spettacolo.livejournal.com]

"Enjoy what you can while it lasts, and don't get too attached. Especially to material things, for they are the bits of life that change the most frequently... And I can only hope that those plants are now simply brightening up the community somewhere else, and that the neighbors of the person who relocated them are appreciating them as well."

That's a pretty insensitive thing to say.

Would you have said the same thing if the original poster had their car stolen?

"Tra la la... The world is an imperfect place. You just have to live with it. At least I hope the person who stole your car is getting some good use out of it."

Re: What?

[kpht.livejournal.com]

FWIW, It's been established before that this particular member of ds_lj is not short on nonsensically obnoxious or massively insensitive statements or comments. It's best to just shrug your shoulders and move on, you'll never get the explanation you're looking for :P

Re: What?

[turil.livejournal.com]

Yes, I am rather unusual in my approach to life. Spent a lot of time researching philosophy, psychology, sociology, and not much time hanging out with average people. So, yeah, my communication technique is more in line with a Wikipedia article, than someone who likes to hang around in bars or coffeshops.

But it works well for some folks. And I'm happy enough with it. And understand completely when it baffles or annoys folks.

Re: What?

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

I tend to agree with this view... Some situations are stable, some are not, in the short term. None are, in the long run. If the "thieves" are not doing anything illegal, then it is just tough, it means that the situation where somebody plants nice flowers on public land is just not sustainable. You got to enjoy them for a few days until they are gone. The flowers will be stolen. We can try to shame those folks, but probably others will show up in their place. There are always some people who try to exploit good things to their advantage, not much that can be done about it.
That said, I'd be all for taking pictures and posting them. These people are doing it at night because they know it is not nice and they would not want their identity known...

Re: What?

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

Please! Let us not complain when someone posts a not-quite-perfect reply, that does not in all ways fulfill the unstated requisites we expected that our commenters would telepathically understand when we originally posted! Let us not call them used car salesmen! We are better than that!

Re: What?

[emcicle.livejournal.com]

bwahahahaha

See, now...

[turil.livejournal.com]

I actually appreciate honest feedback. I'd rather know what people really think.

Re: See, now...

[nvidia99999.livejournal.com]

It's hard to get honest feedback when our culture is so saturated with politically correct junk and near-unlimited denial of anything that does not fit a simple and reassuring narrative.

Re: See, now...

[anyee.livejournal.com]

How's "Hey, you're a douche for suggesting someone 'get over' a frustrating, constant theft of something he/she cares about."

Oh wa-

Re: See, now...

[karenjulip.livejournal.com]

Really? What do you do with that information? It was suggested that your comment was insensitive and you replied essentially by saying you're just different and look at the world in a different way than other people, which works for some people and not for others. Which seems to me as a "suck it" kind of response to people who don't appreciate your point of view. I'm not saying you SHOULD care about what other people think about your comments. But your comment here, that you appreciate honest feedback, doesn't seem accurate, unless by "appreciate" you mean "ignore". Because you didn't seem to respond to or take in the honest feedback to your comment at all. I don't mean to attack you in any way, and I'm sorry if this comes across that way. I'm just trying to understand you a little.

Information is growth

[turil.livejournal.com]

I do indeed care very much about others, which is precisely why I am willing to be honest and straightforward with them about what I think and feel, rather than couching things in flowery language and/or a facade of social niceties. I'm willing to sacrifice my "popularity" to be the one who says what needs to be said. I am the fire alarm that pisses you off because it sounds so harsh, and also saves your life because it is harsh enough to tell you to get out of a burning building.

Honest feedback helps everyone, as far as I'm concerned, because the more we know about reality, the better we are able to work with it. Which is why I give straight feedback to (rather than "ignoring") folks whenever I can. In fact, as I see it, what I do is the opposite of saying "suck it". What I do is really more of telling people "I care about you enough to scream bloody murder when something important is going on."

I don't expect people to love my alarm call, but it's worth being "annoying" if it's going to make people pay attention to stuff that could really harm them.

Re: Information is growth

[anyee.livejournal.com]

Want honest feedback? Responding to someone's upset over theft with a suggestion that said person's reaction is invalid or philosophically wrong is, at best, disordered. Empathy is a trait that we'd like to believe is intrinsic in the human condition. No, seriously. Even animals have it.

Those without empathy are usually sick: autistic. Schizophrenic. Psychopathic. I'm going with autistic.

yeah...

[turil.livejournal.com]

I know, you don't get it. It's cool, I'm ok with being the easy target for people who have a lot of stress in their lives. Vent all you want. It's good for you, right?

Re: yeah...

[anyee.livejournal.com]

Ah, I see, you're an "easy target" when I say something that you disagree with. In this case, I am a clinician and I'm merely calling it as I see it. But you know, personal growth (to you) seems to be only things that you find philosophically acceptable.

Add the DSM-IV to your readings. It'll be enlightening!

moderator note

[ron_newman]

Once again, folks, could we please hold off on the personal insults? Thanks.

Re: Information is growth

[karenjulip.livejournal.com]

You didn't answer my questions at all. I asked you what you did with the feedback you get from others, not why you give it to others. I said you might not care about what others think about you, not that you might not care about other people in general. And I didn't say your giving advice is evidence of a "suck it" mentality, but rather your response to other's feedback that your comment was insensitive was a "suck it" response to that feedback and evidence that you may not care about feedback from others, though you seem to think everyone can benefit from your own feedback (which they very well could, but you don't seem to benefit or take in others' feedback).

Re: Information is growth

[turil.livejournal.com]

As I said all feedback is valuable to everyone, and that includes me, too. I figured you knew that already.

I do the same thing as I imagine everyone does with it, assess how realistic it is (How much is it true?), decide if it's useful (How relevant is this to my goals?), and if it is realistic and useful, I figure out how to incorporate it into my life, and do my best to offer further information, if asked.

Why, do you do something different with the feedback people give you?

And again, I still see my attention and honest feedback is the opposite of "suck it" and really more of a "OK, and here's what I think, because you deserve to know what's up, so you can respond appropriately, because I actually don't want the world to suck at all." (Except things like lollipops and thumbs, and other such things. :-)

[turil.livejournal.com]

The intent is to offer a way of thinking about the world that allows us to do more good, while not being discouraged by the reality that life isn't always easy. Life does suck sometimes, but it's easier to make things better when you accept that nothing you do is going to last forever. This philosophy has helped me a whole lot.

And yes, I would have said the same thing if it was a car that was taken. I'd rather have a thief do something good for the world, say, to use a stolen car to drive sick kids to a hospital, than to just keep it for themselves or destroy it. Theft is a bad solution in general, but sometimes it's the lesser of two evils, and some good can come out of it.

Out of curiosity, what's your approach to the Heinz moral dilemma (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinz_dilemma)?

[veronique4.livejournal.com]

The vast majority of the plants have come from seeds and donations. This season, though, we decided to fill in a few gaps with some favorites and yes, one should not get too attached to materials things, especially when they live in a public urban garden.

I like your "lost plant" idea. Might give that a try.

Thanks for your ideas.