Has anyone read - An analogy of people through: SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS? I personally think it is a great story.

2013-12-05T20:21:50-05:00

An analogy of people through: SHEEP, WOLVES, AND
SHEEPDOGS 
 
Jill Edwards, a junior math major at the University of Washington, and a member
of the UW student senate, opposed a memorial to U graduate "Pappy" Boyington.
Boyington was a U.S. Marine aviator who earned the Medal of Honor in World War
II. Edwards said that she didn't think it was appropriate to honor a person who
killed other people. She also said that a member of the Marine Corps was NOT an
example of the sort of person the University of Washington wanted to
produce.  What follows is Gen. Dula's letter to the University of
Washington student senate leader. Read and comprehend what is being said, and
decide if you want to be a "sheep". 
 
To: Edwards, Jill (student, U) 
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 conservative folks 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 naiveté. 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. Please take a couple of minutes to
read the following. And be grateful for the millions of American sheepdogs who
permit you the freedom to express even bad ideas. 
Brett Dula 
Sheepdog, retired 
 
ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS - By LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER, Ph.D.,
author of "On Killing."

 
Honor never grows old, and honor rejoices the heart of age. It does so because
honor is, finally, about defending those noble and worthy things that deserve
defending, even if it comes at a high cost. 
In our time, that may mean social disapproval, public scorn, hardship, persecution,
or as always, even death itself. 

The question remains: 

What is worth defending? 

What is worth dying for? 

What is worth living for? 

 

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

 
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 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 had 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."  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? You have 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.  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
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, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep.  Any sheep dog 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.  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? Remember how many times you heard the word hero?  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. 
 
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.

Response by Col Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 5 at 2013 8:23 PM

2013-12-05T20:23:58-05:00

MSgt Kerwin, I recently read this within the past few weeks, excellent read... thanks for sharing with everyone!

Response by SSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Dec 5 at 2013 8:39 PM

2013-12-05T20:39:36-05:00

Wow Miss Jones gets my respect for making her a target from the military well over half the population in general.   My take is that as a former military member that we served for the likes of you.  We are also strong enough not to make this personal,  though some of my buddies here certainly will. My dad was called a baby killer when I was in school,  that boy was not as fortunate as you because I would never hit a girl.   All I know sunshine,  is that it may feel good to pile on veterans because your buddies feel empowered.   Me,  I just see the people daily who thank me for keeping this country safe and even more so is my belief that our combat brothers and sisters are the real heroes.

Response by 1SG Steven Stankovich made Dec 6 at 2013 12:13 AM

2013-12-06T00:13:57-05:00

I highly encourage that you look up Lt Col Dave Grossman.  He wrote the books "On Killing" and  "On Combat." He talks a lot about society with regards to these roles, sheep, wolves and sheepdogs.  He has a website and does a lot of speaking engagements.    Here is the link to his website: http://www.killology.com  <div class="pta-link-card"><div class="pta-link-card-picture"><img src="http://www.killology.com/images/shim.gif"></div><div class="pta-link-card-content"><div class="pta-link-card-title"><a href="http://www.killology.com" target="_blank">Warrior Science Group: Lieutenant Colonel Dave Grossman, Author - Jonesboro, Arkansas</a></div><div class="pta-link-card-description">Col. Dave Grossman is the head of the Warrior Science Group which studies the psychological cost of learning to kill. Research focuses on police and military mental training and how violence in media...</div></div><div style="clear: both;"></div><div class="pta-box-hide"></div></div>

Response by Cpl Glynis Sakowicz made Dec 6 at 2013 7:35 AM

2013-12-06T07:35:07-05:00

I would think that "Pappy Boyington" would be exactly the sort of person that any college would be proud to produce. He was a hard-partying, hard-drinking man, who would never back down in a fight. He was one of the best at his job, and he pushed those around him to excell at their jobs. Other Marines had a love-hate relationship with him, but he never lacked for respect for his skills and his accomplishments, which were legend.

Considering that men like Boyington, and millions of others whose names were not remembered, literaly saved the world for people like this college student, by "Killing" as she calls it, and even today, while those same college students are thinking about spring break, many of us will be putting our lives on the line so they can do whatever it is they do.

Instead of looking down on those of us who answered the need this country has for defense, they should be considering what life might be like, had we not been there, and had Pappy Boyington and his flying band of misfits not fought the Japanese for all the future generations of Americans. Personally, I thank God such men lived, so that I could have my freedom to choose my path in life, and perhaps, someday, when this girl-child grows up, she will realize that it takes someone willing to kill, so that others can know peace.

Response by CPT Private RallyPoint Member made Mar 7 at 2014 10:17 AM

2014-03-07T10:17:34-05:00

Thanks for sharing that MSgt Kerwin! I hope Miss Edwards learned a thing or two about society and life in general after reading that. I guess for most people ignorance is bliss, but to know the truth about life demands purpose and action that many find difficult to accept or follow. Thank God for the sheepdogs that allow the flock to carry on with their lives in peace and ask for nothing in return.