I'm enjoying a very pleasant start to my 68th birthday and later will partake of some beautiful friendship and fine food. At the day's end, I plan to sip a little very special Single-Malt Scotch (yes, in capitalized initials due to my love of these amazing spirits), because my son & family sent me a gift card usable only at a store that specializes in a wide array of liquors including dozens of single malts. I will stop there during my travels today! I can already practically taste the smooth flavor of fine Scotch to come later.
But one of my emails this morning carried this forward and I simply had to address it:
Native Americans have a story of a grandfather walking with his grandson. The boy asks the old man why there is hatred, evil, violence and broken promises in the world.
The grandfather replies. "The answer is within. Deep inside each of us is a fight between two wolves. One is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt. The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. This fight between the two wolves is going on inside of you and inside of everybody."
The grandson thinks for a moment and then asks his grandfather "Which wolf will win?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one that you feed."
It occurs to me that there has rarely been wisdom such as this passed down to youth, much to our shame and gradual decline in character as a species.
Hopefully we can all feed our good wolves today; mine is hungry.
I hope your birthday was everything you could wish. Was that scotch a bit o' the Glen Livet? Love that. Don't get it very often. You're ten and a half years younger than me. Go get 'em, kid!
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