A Cherokee elder sitting with his grandchildren told them, “In every life there is a terrible fight – a fight between two wolves. One is evil: he is fear, anger, envy, greed, arrogance, self-pity, resentment, and deceit. The other is good: joy, serenity, humility, confidence, generosity, truth, gentleness, and compassion.” A child asked, “Grandfather, which wolf will win?” The elder looked him in the eye. “The one you feed.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Zion Christian Extends Streak

This is a piece I wrote while covering a high school football game for the Columbia Daily Herald in Columbia, Tennessee. It was published on October 19, 2003. ----------------------------- The St. Andrew's-Sewanee Lions were clearly no match for Zion Christian Academy as the Eagles dominated the field and won their homecoming matchup, 31-15, Friday. The Eagles improved to 5-2, while extending their winning streak to five games. Zion also became eligible for a bowl game thanks to the victory. "It's pretty exciting," Zion Christian head coach Paul Brenner said. "The kids keep getting better every week." Senior Steven Shoup was the star of the game, gaining an impressive 195 yards on 26 carries, scoring two touchdowns, a field goal, a two-point conversion and three extra-point kicks. "He really played well," Brenner said. "He's like a rocket, he runs hard and it takes a lot of to stop him." The Lions (1-7) started the game with possessio...
Read more

The Republican Hat Trick

As a child, I never really liked “Alice in Wonderland.” Psychopathic playing cards, disappearing cats, time-challenged bunnies and mad hatters—it was all too much for me, and far too abstract. I was more of a Curious George person. A monkey in a room with a can of paint—this was something I could comprehend and relate to. Lately, though, I have found myself revisiting Alice’s Wonderland to gain some perspective on the current state of US politics. Most of the time I feel as though I, like Alice, have fallen down a rabbit hole and am now in some alternate reality where up is down, black is white and Republicans are for the working class while Democrats are for the effete, rich, snobbish elite. See? It makes no sense. Oh, there goes the rabbit! For a book I was researching once, I studied the confidence games used by hucksters throughout the centuries to separate the rubes from their money. Now, I stand at the edge of a crowd gathered around the grifter as he moves the shells b...
Read more

History Lessons for the Next Term

History Lessons for the Next Term Johann Christoph Arnold The long awaited presidential election is over. The American people have spoken and given our president another four years to govern the country. Unlike the last election, he won the popular vote and now has a clear mandate. And although we have just been through the most polarizing campaign in recent memory, Democrats and Republicans agree on one thing—that our nation now needs to be united. In a recent CNN poll a majority of Americans were hopeful that President Bush would do more to unite our country than to divide it. To do this, he must lead the country in truly seeking God’s will, not his human will. This will require bipartisan action, openness, and even more importantly, humility, prayer, and sacrifice. Although he won the election, there are still millions who disagree strongly with him on many points. Their views must be listened to with respect. Blindly forging ahead with policies that barely half the nation ...
Read more