ON SHEEP, WOLVES, AND SHEEPDOGS (an excellent read!)

email ^ | unknown | LTC(RET) Dave Grossman, RANGER,

[Tunehead54]

Good read bump. Thanks! :-)

[moneypenny]

Great article, thanks!

Ping

[Joe Brower]

Good opportunity to review an old lesson.

[RNO1]

Excellent Thank You....

[Wonder Warthog]

"...although we're usually sheep - but armed sheep."

If you're armed, you're not sheep. Llamas, maybe (a flock of llamas is quite capable of defending itself).

[OregonRancher]

It was the implcation...I infered wrong....in this case,
you're absolutely correct.

[Wonder Warthog]

"BUT sheepdogs eat sheep for diner. Maybe not wholesale like wolves, but they still eat meat. I never liked this analogy. Sorry to be negative."

Your interpretation is incorrect. Any sheepdog that eats sheep does so "legally"--after it's been killed and butchered by its owner, and offered to the dog. The sheepdog doesn't go out, pick a sheep out of the flock, and kill and eat it---wolves (and coyotes) do.

[sneakers]

It is, indeed, an excellent read! I've copied it in the past and shared it. Thanks for posting it again!

sneakers

[Ditter]

You have hit upon the description I was looking for for us. We are armed sheep too.

[griswold3]

mark

[RKV]

Don't have any idea about tradition. I know sheepherders (Basques) from growing up in the San Joaquin Valley of California. As I noted, the sheepherders and the sheepdogs eat mutton there - mutton the sheepherders butchered themselves. Period.
My point in all this is to point out (in spite of all the glowing sentiment about our soldiers [which I approve of]) is that we need to stop being like sheep! Self-defense is a positive good and Americans need to stop delegating that natural right to others.

[AnAmericanMother]

I agree - that's what I said in a post above. You're responsible for your own safety -- human beings are not sheep.

I'm sure the sheepherding traditions vary from country to country. But Scottish shepherds will put down a dog that bites the sheep, so I guess they figure they shouldn't encourage them by feeding them mutton.

Now, I have a Lab and she'll eat ANYthing but has no inclination to worry sheep or cattle or horses. She's associated with so many Border Collies (agility) that she does like to herd stuff -- children, other dogs -- but she doesn't have "the eye" and doesn't nip their heels.

[ModelBreaker]

A caution. It is pointless to send this to someone you regard as a complete sheep. It is in the nature of someone in denial that someone external can't point out that denial. Only when something happens to them to force them to confront the denial are they capable of getting the message. And often not even then. In fact, they usually get mad at the messenger and call you a stupid, testosterone driven male who needs someone to fight.

[gnarledmaw]

"and so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes."

Last night I was wondering why after a long string of occurrences that "white separatist" "militia members" have stopped "self immolating" their "compounds".

"And some are wolves in disguise...It's better to be your own sheepdog..."

An American tradition since April 19, 1775.

[Paperdoll]

Thank you. Lots of Sheepdogs on FR.

[ExSoldier]

They do where I grew up, and the Basques raise sheep there.

Basques? That would be the part of the world where a group known as the Basque Seperatists reside?

As a proud member of the clan of Sheepdogs I need to point out a few things to you:

#1 The essay is SYMBOLIC not literal. Real wolves eat sheep...and cattle and when the opportunity presents itself (rarely)....people. Real sheep eat grass and other green stuff (sound a lot like the PETA freaks and other liberals). Real people who aren't vegans or liberals...eat sheep, beef (it's what's for dinner!) and fish. Not to mention various kinds of bird species.

#2 This is obviously not where you grew up. But this essay was written by an American...about American's. While I'm sure there are other cultures that have their own sheepdogs, I'm equally certain there are none so plentiful as the sheepdogs (People Sheepdogs) we breed in this country if only because of our connection to the 2nd Amendment of the US Constitution. The U.S. Constitution is unique in all the world as it was originally designed to restrain the government from acting unilaterally against it's own citizenry. Therefore American Sheepdogs must also be held to be unique.

[blackie]

Excellent!!

[EdReform]

Denial kills you twice. It kills you once, at your moment of truth when you are not physically prepared: you didn't bring your gun, you didn't train. Your only defense was wishful thinking. Hope is not a strategy...

And so the warrior must strive to confront denial in all aspects of his life, and prepare himself for the day when evil comes. If you are warrior who is legally authorized to carry a weapon and you step outside without that weapon, then you become a sheep, pretending that the bad man will not come today. No one can be "on" 24/7, for a lifetime. Everyone needs down time. But if you are authorized to carry a weapon, and you walk outside without it, just take a deep breath, and say this to yourself..."Baa."

Spot on. Well said.

Second Amendment bump.

[TYVets]

"The Government does not owe a living to Vets, but the Government owes its existence to Vets."

I had never read this statement until today, it is so true.

[looscnnn]

Need to make an adjustment:

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.

should be:

A sheepdog, a warrior, someone who is walking the hero's path. Someone who is willing to walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, knowing that they may not walk out unscathed, if at all.