RE: Grim's Hall an honored friend of our kennel Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf
SubTitled: War Dogs and Sheep Dogs
Seemed appropriate to expand on my comment and the metaphor.
Reckon I agree about the 'kennel' thing. But 'den' implies females and pups, doesn't it?
I think I'd go with PACK. Wolves run in packs, even house broken pets will 'pack up' given the chance.
OTOH, around here I've helped sheep farmers thin out the latter sort of pack that was killing lambs.
Dunno, I don't think we qualify as fully housebroke anyway.
I've been taken with Bill Whittle's post:
In case anyone here is unfamiliar with it there's a section apropos to this discussion, perhaps.
It's a bit long so I'll offer it in the extended section.
I think I'm taken by the metaphor because in a real way I've been a sheepdog. I've actually shot and killed semi-feral dogs as noted above.
War Dogs are a different animal, literally and figuratively so whatever you folks opt to call the group will suit me fine.
Just wandering around in the space between my ears a bit...
A few weeks ago, a reader was kind enough to send me a link about a theory and seminar called The Bulletproof Mind,
written by Lt. Colonel Dave Grossman. Just the small blurb I read
enlarged my mental horizon by an order of magnitude, because it
clarified many of the confusing things I have been feeling as so much
of the country plunges deeper into irresponsibility, fantasy,
bitterness and delusion.
I excerpt a small portion of it here, without permission, in the
hope that those of you who are serious about surviving things like Katrina will go and buy it.
Lt. Colonel Grossman, a far better man than me, a man who does things I only talk about, writes in his introduction to The Bulletproof Mind:
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to
me: "Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind,
gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident."
This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per
year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What
this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to
hurt one another.
Some estimates say that two million Americans are victims of
violent crimes every year, a tragic, staggering number, perhaps an
all-time record rate of violent crime. But there are almost 300 million
total Americans, which means that the odds of being a victim of violent
crime is considerably less than one in a hundred on any given year.
Furthermore, since many violent crimes are committed by repeat
offenders, the actual number of violent citizens is considerably less
than two million.
Thus there is a paradox, and we must grasp both ends of the
situation: We may well be in the most violent times in history, but
violence is still remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are
kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except
by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep.
To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and
gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg
cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers
and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization
they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they
need warriors to protect them from the predators.
"Then there are the wolves," the old war veteran said, "and the
wolves feed on the sheep without mercy." Do you believe there are
wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better
believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of
evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you
become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
"Then there are sheepdogs," he went on, "and I'm a sheepdog. I
live to protect the flock and confront the wolf." Or, as a sign in one
California law enforcement agency put it, "We intimidate those who
intimidate others."
If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy
productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no
empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive
sociopath--a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a
deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog, a warrior,
someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who can walk into the
heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out
unscathed.
He continues:
Let me expand on this old soldier's excellent model of the
sheep, wolves, and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial;
that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there
is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen,
which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms
and fire exits throughout their kids' schools. But many of them are
outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's
school. Our children are dozens of times more likely to be killed, and
thousands of times more likely to be seriously injured, by school
violence than by school fires, but the sheep's only response to the
possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill
or harm their children is just too hard, so they choose the path of
denial.
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog. He looks a lot
like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The
difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not
ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog that intentionally harms the lowliest
little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any
other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic
such as ours.
Still, the sheepdog disturbs the sheep. He is a constant
reminder that there are wolves in the land. They would prefer that he
didn't tell them where to go, or give them traffic tickets, or stand at
the ready in our airports in camouflage fatigues holding an M-16. The
sheep would much rather have the sheepdog cash in his fangs, spray
paint himself white, and go, "Baa." Until the wolf shows up. Then the
entire flock tries desperately to hide behind one lonely sheepdog. As
Kipling said in his poem about "Tommy" the British soldier:
While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that,
an' "Tommy, fall be'ind,"
But it's "Please to walk in front, sir,"
when there's trouble in the wind,
There's trouble in the wind, my boys,
there's trouble in the wind,
O it's "Please to walk in front, sir,"
when there's trouble in the wind.
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be.
Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always
sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at
things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle.
That is, the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The old
sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they move to the sound of
the guns when needed right along with the young ones.
Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently. The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.
After the attacks on September 11, 2001, most of the sheep, that is,
most citizens in America said, "Thank God I wasn't on one of those
planes." The sheepdogs, the warriors, said, "Dear God, I wish I could
have been on one of those planes. Maybe I could have made a
difference." When you are truly transformed into a warrior and have
truly invested yourself into warriorhood, you want to be there. You
want to be able to make a difference.
While there is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the
warrior, he does have one real advantage -- only one. He is able to
survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the
population.
[Emphasis mine – BW]
Contributed by Zero Ponsdorf on July 8, 2006 at 06:32 PM in , |
Comments
Posted by:
Excellent post, Zero, and a perfect set-up for my next "STV Classics" post. Watch for it tomorrow.
Posted by: | Jul 8, 2006 9:04:57 PM
Posted by:
Awesome post, Zero. I was very taken with "Tribes" also and believe that it is very apropos. I thank God for you all, our volunteer sheepdogs, because you have and do protect us.
Posted by: | Jul 8, 2006 11:30:24 PM
Posted by: Jim Bartimus
Nice post Zero, you give me hope that some understand what isn't understood by so many. They've never had dreams of a weapon that wouldn't fire or the visions of those that did.
Old dogs never forget our training and we sleep with one eye open.