The Test
Under the wide starry sky, under the light of the ancestral moon, under the blanket of the Great Spirit, Red Deer, the oldest of the tribe, and Short Arrow, the son of his grandson, were sitting by the warming fire. It was the first long hunt by Short Arrow, the hunt that was going to make him a man. They sat for a while, listening to the silence and their own thoughts.
"Grandfather," the boy began hesitantly, "I'm supposed to be a hunter and with your help I've now finished my first long hunt. But the inner calmness does not want to return to my heart. I went on my first hunt with you cheerfully and happily, but soon I was restless and sad because I found no traces. When you showed them to me, I even got angry and with my loud words drove out the buffalo calf that we would otherwise have hunted down. In the morning my heart was wide with joy over the sky, the earth and the water, but in the afternoon I hated the sun, people and myself. Why is that so, Red Deer, father of my father's father?"
Red Deer looked up into the sky, looked into the fire, looked into his heart. After a long silence, he finally spoke: “Since the beginning of the world, before the coyote, the trickyman, roamed the prairie, before our people rode horses, there are two wolves in the heart of every human being. One is white and steal like the midday sun, the other is black like the moonless, cloudy night. Both fight bitterly."
"Do these wolves fight in my heart?" asked Short Arrow and put his hand on his chest.
"Yes, in your heart as well," the old man nodded, "also in my heart, that of your sister and brother, your father and your mother. They live and fight in the heart of every human being. But the wolves do not only differ in the color of their fur. The black wolf bares its teeth, threatens and growls and bites, he is filled with fear, anger, envy, jealousy, greed, and arrogance. But the white wolf is filled with peace, courage, humility, compassion and hope. He genuinely cares for other people and is kind and wise."
Short Arrow looked long into the embers of the extinguishing fire. Finally he asked softly, “But won't the black wolf kill the white one? Isn't the angry superior to the gentle in the midst of the fight? And what happens when the black wolf has defeated the white wolf? ”
"Short Arrow, think about it: Can you defeat the great hero Tamahanaka just because you're furious? No. It depends on power and ability. But which wolf is the stronger? Which one will win the fight? "The one you feed," replied the old man. (based on "Füttere den wei?en Wolf" by Ronald Schweppe and Aljoscha Long)
We are in turbulent times. The coronavirus is spreading fast. There is currently no vaccine or specific treatment. Under these circumstances, it seems understandable that peple are frightened. However, some of the public anxiety exhibited in the last weeks has been disproportionate to the risk posed by Covid-19. While older people and those with pre-existing respiratory conditions have cause for concern, a large majority of people who catch the virus develop mild symptoms they can treat at home. A large part will have no symptoms at all. Yet many people hoard face masks, fight for hygiene articles in supermarkets and leave doctors in need of crucial medical supplies, like face masks and desinfectants behind. Many others complain bitterly about politicians asking people to stay at home for the next weeks unless they have to buy food or medicine or go to work or hospital.
The story of the two wolves shows us that there is a space between stimulus and response. In that space each of us have the power to choose. Even though we cannot always influence and change the situation, we can still decide on how we respond to a challenge.
In the current situation we can decide to follow our impulse, panic, follow our ego and to protect ourselves no matter what or, alternatively, decide to pause, cool down, be mindful about what is really going on, reflect, collaborate and help each other. We can decide to complain about the fact that the football match, the school, the opera program got cancelled or, alternatively, we can decide to read a good book, attend a virtual training, learn how to use effectively digital technology to collaborate with colleagues, call friends, or play with the kids in the backyard. All this was not cancelled. In our response - not in the situation as such - lies our freedom, growth and wellbeing for us and everyone around us.
Fortunately, there are also many positive cases in which people defer their own interests and focus with their actions to serve the greater good. Just today I have read that the Chinese government sent 30 tons of medical supplies and 9 medical experts to Italy to battle the virus. Who will you decide to feed - the black or the white wolf?