Summer Enemies 1: Mowing

I met a zombie in real life. It is skinny and boney, and has a greenish color. The zombie that I encountered, although it did not bite as usual, is violently aggressive and has plenty of sharp and long thorns that could easily make us injured when we interact with it. The scariest part is that we thought we had annihilated them all with strong chemicals, blades and other strong weapons and returned home, only to find them the next day exactly where we had made them vanish — and even worse, they had germinated to other regions. This apocalypse story began in mid-summer. We always had to make sure all the gear was worn properly before we headed to war, and when we came back from it, everybody was exhausted, not even having the power to eat something. One thing about this zombie is that it only comes out during summer.

In truth, the “zombie” I was describing wasn’t a creature at all — it was grass, and the process of annihilation was about mowing. It is relentless, invasive, and impossible to fully destroy especially in summer. Today's essay is about one of the most notorious enemies in the military: Grass. 

Yes. Grass in South Korea is like a zombie. Every time we go out and mow for all day, couple days later, grasses grow taller than we mowed in past, and sometimes the area we have mow gets larger.This thing triggered my temper so much that I had to understand why its vitality is so strong and what the underlying issue is.

Grass as well as  basically most plants have similar factors that impact their growth: relative humidity, sunlight intensity, carbon dioxide and oxygen flux, soil nutrient status, etc. These factors exert a significant influence on plant growth and play a crucial role in directing their evolutionary adaptations. In the Amazon rainforest, for instance, the consistently high relative humidity reduces water loss through transpiration, enabling trees to maintain larger leaf surface areas without risking excessive dehydration. Cacti are different from rainforest plants because they have thorn-like leaves that help them survive in dry conditions. These thorns reduce the surface area of the leaves, which lowers water loss through transpiration. 

 Like from the amazon rainforest experience, plants incline to have a bigger leaf as the environment is more humid. Warm temperatures might lead to an ideal environment for enzymes and cells to efficiently drive faster biochemical reactions, which promotes faster cell division and elongation. These conditions turn plants into the ultimate zombies— growing unstoppable, and refusing to die no matter what.

South Korea's summer is hot, and humid because it is surrounded by three seas, — the Yellow Sea, the East China Sea, and the East Sea. In summer, warm air masses from the Pacific and Indian Oceans bring heat and moisture. From late June to late July, South Korea experiences the East Asian monsoon, called Jangma. Warm, moist air from the ocean blows inland, bringing heavy rainfall and high humidity. For the eyes of the grasses, summer in Korea is like a nonstop festival. 

What’s worse is when plants get mowed, it’s like giving them a bad haircut—they lose their leaves and stems, but their roots and underground rhizomes are still chilling below the surface, ready to bounce back. These surviving roots and rhizomes can quickly generate new shoots, allowing the plant to regrow efficiently. Seeds that fall to the ground during or after mowing, or those dispersed from nearby plants, can spread to new areas, expanding the plant’s growing territory. Together, these factors might explain why plants often recover quickly and can even increase their coverage after mowing.

Walking dead zombies can not run fast, while zombies from train to busan are like marathoners. Like zombies from different movies and dramas having their own specific identities, plants have various characteristics, and it is grossly noticeable when it comes to mowing. Let me give you some instances on this. Unlike grasses, like the ones that grow in the backyard, easy to defeat, takes no time to demolish, the plants that we handled were like carnivores. Having thorns on their stems was the default, roots stuck inside the ground and sometimes having a terrible odor after the cut. What’s worse is that when the plants have flowers with an enticing scent to insects especially bees.   

After spending hours mowing under physically demanding conditions, I realized how limited my understanding of military service had been. The task was far from simple, and the exhaustion forced me to reflect on how much effort is required in even the most routine duties. Through this experience, I recognized that before becoming a soldier, I had not fully appreciated the work and commitment behind military life. The experience humbled me and changed the way I view soldiers.