No Need to Get Bent Out of Shape, Lubbock: It’s Just a Bush

Lubbock-based Facebook pages have been up in arms over the big smiling bush that's decorated for different holidays at 58th and Indiana. Yes, a bush. Just a big round shrub in the yard of a private residence that's been a local icon of sorts for many years made popular by its quaint accessories.

More people in Lubbock seem to care about the fate of the famous smiling bush than they care about a lot of other things that actually matter. I know this because the sheer number of pageviews and shares about stories involving the bush, compared to other important local topics, is astronomical.

Plain and simple: get over it.

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If you want to dress up a bush in your yard for everyone to behold and snap selfies with, go right ahead and do it. Nobody is stopping you. The current caretaker of Lubbock's smiling bush is going to continue the tradition and frankly just wasn't happy with the way it was decorated this one time. I see no problems, only a bunch of whiny people with nothing better to do than talk about a plant in someone's yard.

Here are a few things more important to worry about than Lubbock's smiling bush:

1) Crime rates in Lubbock have skyrocketed

According to Neighborhoodscout.com, Lubbock is ONLY safer than 3 percent of other U.S. cities. I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound very safe. If you have three pennies and you're trying to make it into a dollar, you have a long way to go. Perhaps we could focus on some of these issues more than how in tarnation we're going to get a pair of pants on a hedge?

2) Rising heat costs and not knowing if ERCOT's power grid will fail massively again

We know what a disaster last winter was. Guess what? This winter, Lubbock is part of that same Texas power grid (ERCOT) that experienced a fatal power outage. While y'all are crying about the bush, I'm trying to figure out a plan B...or at least decide which of my cats I will eat first if it comes down to it.

The black and white one is pretty plump and might be tasty, but the orange one gets on my nerves sometimes, so silencing him could prove to be a sweet release. Hard choices.

3) Nationwide supply chain shortages and rising food costs

I don't care a whole lot about this, but some of you out there are extra salty if you can't get your McChicken when you want it.

I've also noticed bacon, among other items at the store are way more expensive than usual, and there are things missing from shelves that are normally there. We're kind of in a bind with the holidays quickly approaching. Some of us are getting a bit nervous about feeding all of our friends and family on a budget. Unless the smiling bush is bringing deviled eggs to your party, it doesn't really matter.

Basically, don't let stupid things like a bush in someone's yard distract you from what is actually happening around you in the world. The smiling bush isn't saving lives and putting out fires. It's just a silly bush.