Sheep, Wolf or Sheepdog.....

[Teresa]

This was posted today on Down Range, it is a long read but great.
This is absolutely OUTSTANDING!


Well Sir....this GREAT letter was sent to me by a woman, Susan Gertson, who's son, Clint, made the ultimate sacrifice for our great Nation. He was killed in Iraq. It doesn't get any simpler or easier to understand as what this author states.....

Sheep, Wolf or Sheepdog.....

This letter was written by Charles Grennel and his comrades who are veterans of the Global War on Terror. Grennel is an Army Reservist whospent two years in Iraq and was a principal in putting together the first Iraq elections, January of 2005.

It was written to Jill Edwards, a student at the University of Washington who did not want to honor Medal of Honor winner Colonel Greg Boyington with a plaque. Greg Boyington was a graduate of UW, and a USMC pilot during WW-II. Miss Edwards objection was because he had killed people.

Ms. Edwards and other students (and faculty) do not think those who serve in the U.S. armed services are good role models.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

To: Edwards, Jill (student, UW) Subject: Sheep, Wolves, and Sheepdogs

Miss Edwards, I read of your student activity regarding the proposed memorial to Col. Greg Boyington, USMC and a Medal of Honor winner. I suspect you will receive a bellyful of angry e-mails from other military men like me.

You may be too young to appreciate fully the sacrifices of generations of servicemen and servicewomen on whose shoulders you and your fellow students stand. I forgive you for the untutored ways of youth and your naivete. It may be that you are, simply, a sheep. There's no dishonor in being a sheep as long as you know and accept what you are.

William J. Bennett, in a lecture to the United States Naval Academy November 24, 1997 said:

"Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident. We may well be in the most violent times in history, but violence is still remarkably rare. They are sheep.

Then there are the wolves 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. I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf. 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? What do you have then? A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the uncharted path. Someone who can walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed.

"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 thousands of times more likely to be killed or seriously injured by school violence than fire, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their child is just too hard, and so they chose 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, can not and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheep dog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed.

The world can not 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.The students, the victims, at Columbine High School were big, tough high school students, and under ordinary circumstances they would not have had the time of day for a police officer. They were not bad kids; they just had nothing to say to a cop. When the school was under attack, however, and SWAT teams were clearing the rooms and hallways, the officers had to physically peel those clinging, sobbing kids off of them. This is how the little lambs feel about their sheepdog when the wolf is at the door.

Look at what happened after September 11, 2001 when the wolf pounded hard on the door. Remember how America, more than ever before, felt differently about their law enforcement officers and military personnel? 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. You want to be able to make a difference. There is nothing morally superior about the sheepdog, the warrior, but he does have one real advantage. Only one. And that is that he is able to survive and thrive in an environment that destroys 98 percent of the population.

There was research conducted a few years ago with individuals convicted of violent crimes. These cons were in prison for serious, predatory crimes of violence: assaults, murders and killing law enforcement officers. The vast majority said that they specifically targeted victims by body language: slumped walk, passive behavior and lack of awareness. They chose their victims like big cats do in Africa, when they select one out of the herd that is least able to protect itself.

Some people may be destined to be sheep and others might be genetically primed to be wolves or sheepdogs. But I believe that most people can choose which one they want to be, and I'm proud to say that more and more Americans are choosing to become sheepdogs.

Seven months after the attack on September 11, 2001, Todd Beamer was honored in his hometown of Cranbury, New Jersey. Todd, as you recall, was the man on Flight 93 over Pennsylvania who called on his cell phone to alert an operator from United Airlines about the hijacking. When they learned of the other three passenger planes that had been used as weapons, Todd and the other passengers confronted the terrorist hijackers. In one hour, a transformation occurred among the passengers, athletes, business people and parents from sheep to sheepdogs and together they fought the wolves, ultimately saving an unknown number of lives on the ground.

"There is no safety for honest men except by believing all possible evil of evil men."... Edmund Burke.

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."... Plato

Here is the point I like to emphasize, especially to the thousands of police officers and soldiers I speak to each year. In nature the sheep, real sheep, are born as sheep. Sheepdogs are born that way, and so are wolves. They didn't have a choice.

But you are not a critter. As a human being, you can be whatever you want to be. It is a conscious, moral decision. If you want to be a sheep, then you can be a sheep and that is okay, but you must understand the price you pay. When the wolf comes, you and your loved ones are going to die if there is not a sheepdog there to protect you. If you want to be a wolf, you can be one, but the sheepdogs are going to hunt you down and you will never have rest, safety, trust or love.

But if you want to be a sheepdog and walk the warrior's path, then you must make a conscious and moral decision every day to dedicate, equip and prepare yourself to thrive in that toxic, corrosive moment when the wolf comes knocking at the door.

This business of being a sheep or a sheep dog is not a yes-no dichotomy. It is not an all-or-nothing, either-or choice. It is a matter of degrees, a continuum. On one end is an abject, head-in-the-sand-sheep and on the other end is the ultimate warrior. Few people exist completely on one end or the other. Most of us live somewhere in between.

Since 9-11 almost everyone in America took a step up that continuum, away from denial. The sheep took a few steps toward accepting and appreciating their warriors and the warriors started taking their job more seriously. It's ok to be a sheep, but do not kick the sheep dog.

Indeed, the sheep dog may just run a little harder, strive to protect a little better and be fully prepared to pay an ultimate price in battle and spirit with the sheep moving from baa to thanks.

We do not call for gifts or freedoms beyond our lot. We just need a small pat on the head, a smile and a thank you to fill the emotional tank which is drained protecting the sheep. And when our number is called by The Almighty, and day retreats into night, a small prayer before the heavens just may be in order to say thanks for letting you continue to be a sheep. And be grateful for the thousands, millions of American sheepdogs who permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas.

[Diane Amberg]

Very interesting and well written. But there are many sides to this kind of thinking. There was no mention of rams, just sheep. Then who do you want for our commander in chief....A ram, a sheep, the sheep dog or the wolf?  Do we benefit from having a strong wolf leading our side?  Or do we want no more than the sheep dog at our top?  Protection but not predation?  My generation still had the draft.  Army ROTC was every Tuesday at the U. of Del. and Newark turned green. Those young men were not sheep, they were rams. Every ram was expected to turn into a sheep dog in training for the day.  Pretty much every ram who graduated was drafted in short order, especially after Tet in '68.  Al lost his best friend in Vietnam when the next man in the patrol stepped on a landmine and the shrapnel killed Dave too.  (Even I was offered a 2nd Lt. after graduation. They would have put me in a military band somewhere.  Not bad, but I had already accepted a teaching job.)
What about other ways of guarding the sheep? Guard dogs of all kinds are still carnivores. There are guard llamas that work well against dogs. You can use them and they are normally very mild grass eaters too. Moose and elk are very mild, but you mess with them, males and females alike will be happy to stomp you to death.
Not every enemy is a wolf.  You have to figure out the enemy and then figure out what works for us to win. I'm not going to kill termites with a grenade launcher. This time it would seem that it is more of a religous war than not. Can we use religion to stop it? Can the statesmen do something? It would seem that eventually everyone everywhere who is not of their faith is to be killed. Does it really come down to we kill all of them or they kill all of us, no matter how long it takes?
Generally, it seems we should have nothing but sheep dogs in the military, and just like sheep dogs, guarding should be in their genes, in their blood. But does that mean that there must always be a conflict, so the sheep dogs have sheep to guard?  Working dogs hate to retire. They need to keep busy. The Marines are trained warriors, but they don't stay. The intent is to weaken, wear it down and turn it over to the next group, usually the Army. Does that mean the Marines are "better" guard dogs than the Army?  It depends on who you ask!    Personally, I'm not a sheep, but I'm not a wolf either. I can change to fit the situation. And the comments about youthful thinking?  Until now, the bulk of the military has always been made up of very young people, who are trained NOT to think, but to take orders.
The old saw about "I'm old enough to die for my country, but not old enough to drink?" The one thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other!!!! That's twisted logic. Of course the military dead should be honored and military families should be treated fairly. But we need to think for ourselves and perhaps think a little deeper.
I'd be proud to have family members in the military, but at least it would be because they felt they had the right personality for the job. Not everybody is cut out for the military, but they aren't necessarily sheep either. Military people are always going to see answers cut from military cloth. Just like surgeons want to fix everything by cutting and internists want to try meds first. People tend to choose the answer that lined up with how they were already thinking.  It tears at my heart when I see that more people have died in the middle east, but I don't think we can simplify the thinking by calling 'most everyone a wolf, sheep or a sheep dog. I would have liked to have read Ms. Edwards' letter to decide for myself. I probably wouldn't have agreed with it, but....

[Teresa]

I think that the generally census of the letter was in retaliation about her thinking that the men who serve our country were not good role models.. plus of course the "followers" etc..
((All your analogy kinda lost me  ))

and .... I wonder if Colonel Greg Boyington got his plaque?

[Carl Harrod]

I'm sure that this has the potential to start a very passionate discussion for either side but I will put it out for everyone to think about anyway.
A few years ago I was talking with a co-worker just to pass the time and he posed the following question:

Which is worse?
1. The "evil" actions that men do, or
2. The actions that are done in response to those "evil" actions

I'm not really looking for any type of response, just to give you something to think about.

[Diane Amberg]

Teresa, sorry if I lost you in all the wool and hair.   Charles Grenell's response to Jill Edward's letter was an analogy and I wrote my response the same way. I sure hope the Colonel did get his plaque. We can all have opinions and they aren't always based on fact, but it is a fact that the man died in the service of his country. That should always be honored and respected. Even if all minds don't agree, their hearts should.
     Carl, I totally agree with you that justifing horiffic actions because of other horrific actions really demands deep thinking and soul searching.  I believe that's why we have court systems, especially the supreme court, politics not withstanding. Only humans do this kind of thing.

[Roma Jean Turner]

I just had my roots touched up today, so I am way to blonde to deal with this. 

[archeobabe]

I wonder if people realize that if we did not have people like "Pappy" Boyington that we would still be fighting World War II even today or that Germany and Japan would rule over most of Europe and Asia.  Let us praise those who fought to keep the freedom of those who have democracy.

[sixdogsmom]

I totally agree that people who have given their lives should be honored with all we have. However, a caveat; we the people should ever be mindful that there are indeed evil entities in this world. It is our duty to be on guard and not get situations advanced so that military becomes the only solution. Teddy Roosevelt said "to walk softly and carry a big stick". We seem to have few statesmen these days, at least they are not publicized. When I was a school girl, everyone knew who the US ambassador to the UN was, who the secretary of state was and how they played a part in our government. I cannot say that is so now. Diplomacy seems to have lost its' luster. After 911, the knee jerk reaction was military until folks back home realized that folks were really getting killed that belonged to the U.S. Perhaps this realization is a good thing, and the people will be more willing to resolve our problems with other than military tactics. I have the greatest respect for military folks; my late hubby was retired military. I love this country and so did he, I just do not like to see us try to occupy any country. I think that this has never been successful throughout history. I will descend from the soap box now. By the way, it is Friday!