by Telhare'sha Dawkins

Created on: February 13, 2008

GRASS WARS -
a political essay -

On planet Grass-Tree, there is an escalating wind a torrent of words between east and west. President Blade, King of the Grasses, and President Tree, King of the Redwoods, are pushing their words across depleted oceans and shrinking shorelines, pummeling each other with covert threats of lightning, rain and hail.

At issue, President Blade's trafficking in matchsticks and sandpaper and President Tree's intimidating of whole nations to submit to his arms reduction ideals for them. President Tree's Redmerica nation has had matchsticks and sandpaper for years but denies grasses and trees, in their various nations, the right to amass the same destructive and self-destructive arms. In fact, President Tree is secretly planning to launch a typhoon against President Blade's Giran nation in order to destroy their armories and maintain the planet-destroying armories of redwood allies.

The pressure is on to pacify President Tree's fetish for storms, hatred for grass and lust for heroism. No one will stop him. Every week he makes sure to aggravate tensions by publicly forecasting his man-made typhoon. When he brandishes his oral incontinence, President Blade responds with inconspicuous warnings, also. His resolve irritates the president of the redwoods. Neither of them will turn.

Grasses and redwoods around the world are fixated on news reports, anticipating a third, simultaneous typhoon before President Tree leaves office. This is his last term and year in the Red House. He forces his speech writers to work long hours, concocting fancy phrases that will include President Blade in a league of wickedness. It is enough to obtain his nation's support. The redwoods want another typhoon. Surely, they must want it. They didn't stop the other ones.

President Blade's grass-citizens work long hours, too, volunteering to design, construct and monitor the production of matchsticks and sheets of sandpaper. His armory is insurance against the insatiable, imperialist appetite of the redwoods. Both leaders are motivated by deadly, intoxicating cocktails of pride and fear. Both leaders are liabilities to the reasonable continuation of life on planet Grass-Tree.

No one believes President Blade when he says President Tree is planning to attack his country, Giran . . . but it's true. President Tree knows it's true. With inciting words he compels armies to compensate for his inadequate treehood. He wants redwood historians to mark him with great warriors of the past;

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