Wolf Wisdom for President Obama

What you are entering now, Mr. President and Mr. Vice President, will tend to draw you away from your ethical center. But we, the nation that you serve, need you to hold the ground of your deepest values, of our deepest values.

Beyond this moment of high hopes, we need you to stay focused on our shared hopes, so that we can continue to hope, too.

We will follow your lead.

There is a story attributed to Cherokee wisdom:

One evening a grandfather was teaching his young grandson about the internal battle that each person faces.

"There are two wolves struggling inside each of us," the old man said.

"One wolf is vengefulness, anger, resentment, self-pity, fear...

"The other wolf is compassion, faithfulness, hope, truth, love..."

The grandson sat, thinking, then asked: "Which wolf wins, Grandfather?"

His grandfather replied, "The one you feed."

Thank you, Dr. Watkins. that is a lovely story and one I will keep close to my heart. As a feminist, I can celebrate that fact that the Rev. Sharon Watkins is the first woman to lead the National Prayer Service. Speaking spiritually, she had, as t'were, the last word in this inauguration and it is therefore fitting that she should quote the first people.

I hope that President Obama is blessed with an appreciation for all wild creatures, including wolves. I notice that he already has what many call wolf wisdom.

Wolf is the pathfinder, the forerunner of new ideas who returns to the clan to teach and share medicine. Wolf takes one mate for life and is loyal like Dog. If you were to keep company with Wolves, you would find an enormous sense of family within the pack, as well as a strong individualistic urge. These qualites make Wolf very much like the human race. As humans, we also have an ability to be a part of society and yet still embody our individual dreams and ideas.

In the Great Star Nation, Wolf is represented by the Dog Star, Sirius... thought to be the home of the gods by ancient Egyptians...still considered so by the Dogan tribe in Africa. It stands to reason that Native American peoples would formulate this same connection and adopt Wolf people as the clan of teachers.

- from Medicine Cards by Jamie Sams

May he been blessed with such wisdom in the days to come. He's going to need it.

Sia

Recommended Reading:

Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin