From Insurgents to Pre-Emergents

It's interesting to observe how life has shifted from one focus to another now that I'm home. An example - for six months, it was all about Afghanistan insurgents. But now, it's crabgrass pre-emergents. So, for peace of mind, I set out to find similarities between the two that might help make my mental transition easier, and more meaningful.

As I considered a pre-emergent for the lawn/garden, I found an article from the Ohio State University, Extension entitled: Pre-Emergent Herbicides Effective for Weed Control. Here are some bullets from the article:

Marestail, giant ragweed and lambsquarter remain some of the most challenging weeds to control for several reasons:
• They become more difficult to control with increasing size and age.
• They are some of the first weeds to emerge in the spring, and marestail grows quickly in size, making proper burndown treatments a must to control them.
• Avoid making post-emergence applications during periods of adverse environmental conditions, such as low temperatures, extended cloudy periods, and drought.

Here's my take on this useful information, uh,... I mean intelligence:

Taliban insurgents and their radical fundamentalist followers are the most difficult to control for several reasons:
• They become more difficult to control with increasing size and rage.
• They are the first to emerge in the spring/summer, and their numbers grow quickly in size, making appropriate engagement/elimination a must.
• Avoid engaging insurgents during periods of adverse environmental conditions, such as low temperatures, extended cloudy periods, and drought.

Is it a stretch to equate Taliban insurgency with out of control weeds? Mmmm, you tell me. But if any of you pass by my house and see me vigorously eradicating/eliminating weeds, via airborne or ground assault methods, please consider that my conduct is easily explained by the psychological term - transference.

Transference: "the redirection of feelings and desires; especially of those unconsciously retained from war, toward a new object." (For you psych majors, I replaced the word childhood with war. Sorry, it makes sense.)

Teachers: Have your students make the connection for me - How is an insurgency like weeds? What conclusions can we draw from the similarities? The differences? Are these similes, or metaphors? Discuss the differences between the two, then have students write a paragraph on a topic using similes and metaphors.