Up until I was about 20 years old I thought that Mimosa trees were pretty. I liked their pinkish-orange, soft-looking blooms and I would admire them when I was driving south to school at Mississippi State University. A remember telling a friend of mine who had a background in horticulture how I felt about Mimosas. His response was,

“Mimosas are a trash tree.”

I thought, “Well, he is educated and I look up to him, so I guess Mimosas are a trash tree.”

Fast-forward to twenty years later, my wife and I are driving down the road and she points to a Mimosa tree and says, “I like those trees, they remind me of home; there were lots of them around my house when I was growing up. Their blooms are so pretty and I like the texture of their branches.” I responded by telling her that Mimosas are considered to be a trash tree, they are messy, invasive and prone to disease.

Yesterday, my wife and I were out for a stroll when we saw a beautiful Mimosa. She said, “I always liked those growing up and then I remember you telling me they were a trash tree.”

It made me sad to think that I had taken just a little bit of beauty out of her life just by inserting my unpleasant opinion on something that I have very little knowledge and even less experience. It upset me that not only had I persuaded her to overlook the beauty of something but I had spread my own disease of influence along to someone else.

We are easily influenced by the words and beliefs of those around us. We need more beauty and less trash. If I influence people to believe that the beauty that they see is trash, then I am the garbage.

Peace, Love, and all things Beef related,

Beefcake