Discussions on TOTV about home protection options have been vigorous and interesting. A couple of posters have made observations that some posters appear eager to have an armed confrontation with a burglar. The following gives some insight into personality types and how it affects their attitude toward confrontation.
This post contains excerpts from a much longer, excellent essay from a book. A link to the book appears at the end.
Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs
Excerpts from an essay
by
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman
One Vietnam veteran, an old retired colonel, once said this to me: “Most of the people in our society are sheep. They are kind, gentle, productive creatures who can only hurt one another by accident.” This is true. Remember, the murder rate is six per 100,000 per year, and the aggravated assault rate is four per 1,000 per year. What this means is that the vast majority of Americans are not inclined to hurt one another.
(On a per capita basis) violence is remarkably rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other, except by accident or under extreme provocation.
They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin’s egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without its hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers and other warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, they need warriors to protect them from the predators.
“
Then there are the wolves,” the old war veteran said, “and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy.” Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it is not so, you become a sheep.
There is no safety in denial.
“Then there are sheepdogs,” he went on, “and I’m a sheepdog.
I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf.” Or, as a sign in one California law enforcement agency put it, “We intimidate those who intimidate others.”
If you have
no capacity for violence then you are a healthy productive citizen:
a sheep. If you have a
capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath-
-a wolf. But what if you have
a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are 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. *
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This is a quite long article and I have skipped the section on the positive aspects of aggression, but this paragraph is insightful:
The sheep generally do not like the sheepdog.
He looks a lot like the wolf. He has fangs and the capacity for violence. The difference, though, is that the sheepdog must not, cannot and will not ever harm the sheep. Any sheepdog who intentionally harms the lowliest little lamb will be punished and removed. The world cannot work any other way, at least not in a representative democracy or a republic such as ours.
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And, this
about the Sheepdog:
Understand that there is nothing morally superior about being a sheepdog; it is just what you choose to be. Also understand that a sheepdog is a funny critter: He is always sniffing around out on the perimeter, checking the breeze, barking at things that go bump in the night, and yearning for a righteous battle. That is,
the young sheepdogs yearn for a righteous battle. The
old sheepdogs are a little older and wiser, but they
move to the sound of the guns when needed right along with the young ones. Here is how the sheep and the sheepdog think differently.
The sheep pretend the wolf will never come, but the sheepdog lives for that day.
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And, one last paragraph addressed
to the Sheepdog:
If you are a 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.”
The entire, lengthy article can be found at:
On Sheep, Wolves and Sheepdogs