(This came from a
Sunday Church Bulletin. It is a product of Liguori
Publications and is credited to the person listed at the bottom. I
present it here because I found it to be a great story and I could not
find the original on the Web and so provide a direct link to it from
my page. If someone knows of a web link to the article I would
be most pleased to change this to a link. Gerald)
A friend, whose great (times six) grandfather, lived with the Cherokees
after his parents were killed, told me this story.
An old Cherokee sage
was teaching his grandson about life. “A
fight is going on inside me,”He said to the young boy. "It
is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One wolf is evil.
He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, arrogance, self-pity, resentment,
inferiority,false pride, superiority, and
ego.
The other wolf is good. He is joy, hope, serenity, humility, benevolence,
empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.
This same fight
is going on inside of you and inside of every other person, too.”
The grandson then
asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?"
The old man replied,”The
one you feed.”
At this banquet we call life. there is plenty of opportunity to feed
either wolf. Their food becomes what we read, what we watch, whom we
choose as our companions, the thoughts we encourage, our actions, day
after day after day. There is nothing which isn?t food for one wolf
or the other.
It is difficult to get through this life without experiencing some
injustice. From the time we are little children, in matters great and
small, we carry around with us a notion of whats fair, As a prominent
person in my community, I receive many undeserved thank you cards from
folks who give me far more credit than I deserve.And,like any prominent
person, I sometimes receive the occasional angry letter, blaming me
for something which really isn?t myfault.What I try to remember isthatthe
undeserved praise balances out the undeserved criticism.
Most of us are
quick to accept the good which is undeserved—we
call it a blessing—but how ready are weto receive the undeserved
slight? We may be righteous in our anger, build airtight cases against
those who have wronged us, make eloquent arguments for why we should
have been invited to hold a higher place, given that promotion, awarded
that honor. What we must ask ourselves is, which wolf are we feeding?
Paige Byrne Shortal sundaybulletin@liguori.org