A true story of prejudice: Story Of The Shepherd and The Wolf
“Judgments prevent us from seeing the good that lies beyond appearances.” – Wayne W. Dyer
“Small is the number of people who see with their eyes and think with their minds.” – A.E.
“Our thoughts are unseen hands shaping the people we meet. Whatever we truly think them to be, that's what they'll become for us.” – R.C.
Based on a True Story (from Croatia)
Story Of The Shepherd and The Wolf
Once upon a time some journalists asked an old shepherd who was guarding the sheep for over seventy years:
„Can you tell us something extraordinary that must had happened to you in that long period of guarding the sheep.“
The reason why the journalists came at all was that the state decided to award the old shepherd with the honorary pension for his eightieth birthday, because he had been fairly doing his job for seventy years and had no other basis on which he could get the deserved pension. He was never registered neither he paid the pension insurance. The old man first stated to be just an ordinary shepherd and was uncomfortable with the arrival of the journalists at the first place and was especially uncomfortable with the thought of seeing something written about him in the newspapers about which he, illiterate as he was, knew only it existed. Journalists, aggressive and persistent as they are, did not want to leave that easily, so the simple minded old man started to talk…
„When I was twenty years old I found a fragile puppy in the woods… Tiny as it was I felt pity for it so I just picked it up, without a lot of thinking. Only a few days later, I felt attached to it and started loving it. I took the puppy everywhere with me and shared everything I had with it. And the dog was progressing pretty well, too (it was a female dog). Soon after, the other villagers started condemning me saying that it wasn't a dog but a wolf and that I should kill her, because sooner or later something very bad was about to happen. I didn't listen to them because I loved her very much. As the time passed by, the dog had grown and became robust and strong. It happened sometimes that I would forget to bring something from the village and then I would send her to bring me whatever I needed. She would look me in the eyes for a moment, like she was asking me to tell her in a different way, and not by words, and then run fast to get it. She was very smart and helped me eagerly to guard the sheep. One hot summer afternoon I stepped into a mountain cottage to get some rest.
As soon as I lied down, my eyes closed. I was very tired. I am not quite sure for how long I had been laying when something woke me up; a kind of gurgling and growling sounds. I stepped outside to see what was happening.
I saw my wolf sitting on the glade of the torn apart fur and with bloody snout, looking at me proudly. There were lifeless and torn apart bodies of my sheep all over the place. I immediately figured out what had happened. I stepped inside the cottage and grabbed a gun that was hanging above the doors and walked outside. I lifted it and aimed it at the wolf's head. She didn't even move; she was just standing there looking at me like she felt guilty for betraying me after all that I had done for her. I pulled the trigger and she fell down, lifeless. To save what could be saved I went to the village to get one of the villagers and a vehicle. I felt ashamed because I didn't listen to the villagers and got rid of the wolf on time. The sun was just rising when we started to load sheep corps into the vehicle. And then…”
The old man stopped and brought down his head. He was quiet for a while and then said:
„Can you imagine how I felt when I found three wolf corps among the lifeless sheep…? My heart tightened and tears stroke my eyes; I couldn't breathe. I killed my only true friend. She fought with all its strength for me and my sheep and I… I doubted the star in the sky…
Sixty years have passed since that event; and I still cannot forget that scene; as it has happened today. When that happened I isolated myself. It became clear to me that nobody should ever judge anyone. And the price I paid to realize that was too high…“
Based on a True Story (from Croatia)
“I am an invisible man… I am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids, and I might even be said to possess a mind. I am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.” – R.E.
Credits:
- Video: Dreamcatcher1022
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