Feeding the Wolf

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We are in a time of transition in many different ways. Our new minority President is a wonderful orator who can inspire hope and confidence among us despite an economic crisis, two wars, and a redefinition of our country’s place in the world. We also face the incipient threat of global warming. 

In my heart I know we face all these things, and that we look to our new president to provide the leadership we need to guide us all to a more promising future. In my mind however, I never felt there was going to be that much of a change once politics and special interest groups barged in and dashed our good intentions. I was afraid that the political infighting and bitterness of the past thirty years would continue, and prevent us from working together as a great people.

My heart was soaring with the possibility of hope, while my mind was heavy with the fear of business as usual. I needed something to convince me that real change was possible.

Now I’m not known as a religious person, but I try to live according to most of the principles of the church I was raised in, so this is certainly not a sermon, but more a reflection upon something that really hit me today. I was in a patient’s room when the National Prayer Service was being shown on TV.  Obama, Biden and many government officials were there, and a woman minister, Rev. Sharon Watkins, gave the sermon.

Usually when I hear a sermon my eyes tend to glaze over and I start thinking of girls or the Red Sox, but this minister gave an example of a philosophy that resonated deep within me, and I would like to share it with all of you. Rev Watkins told the story of a Cherokee Indian grandfather sitting with his little grandson, and the old man was trying to explain the conflicting emotions we all get from time to time. When I listened to this story I understood immediately what we must try to do to really change ourselves and out country for the better. 

One evening a grandfather was teaching his young grandson about the internal battle that each person faces.

"There are two wolves struggling inside each of us," the old man said.

"One wolf is vengefulness, anger, resentment, self-pity, fear…

"The other wolf is compassion, faithfulness, hope, truth, love…"

The grandson sat, thinking, then asked: "Which wolf wins, Grandfather?"

His grandfather replied, "The one you feed."

I think some of us have been feeding the wrong wolf, and I for one am going to change.