I just read that expression and realized how many sayings are about wolves. Throw someone to the wolves. A wolf in sheep's clothing. Running with the wolf pack. There must be something to it.
I thought about it for a while and realized that for us, perhaps due to the frightening presentations of wolves, what with their big teeth, and savage nature, we are frightened of what they are, what they might do, and we forget that they are simply being wolves, doing what comes naturally, and we also disremember that they mate for life, something we humans seem to have not been so good at lately.
But where I think nature and man meet is at the point where people become wolves. They become wolves in their sexual behavior, and to be deemed a wolf, for a man, is not good! But there are even worse wolves, wolves who devour the weak, who prey on the helpless, who run with a wolf pack of their making, composed of vicious and selfish creatures who have forgotten their humanity.
Such a wolf can be found at the head of many governmental dictatorships. Putin is a wolf. Trump is a wolf. Duterte is a wolf. Xi is a wolf. Kim is a wolf. The extremists on both sides of the spectrums are also wolves, and if not sure about that, well, look at the pictures where they bare their teeth at their opponents, or how they charge as a pack. Wolves, the lot of them!!
Take our chief wolf (oh, please, take him NOW) and his behavior and consequences That nasty pose of his, with chin out and up, eyes squinting into what I cannot figure out, and arms crossed over his chest as the heavy bulk of him sits there in his chair. Or he stands there with a mean face, growling and threatening, yet slinks away when challenged, so he can growl again later, safely, on his couch, via Twitter or Hannity.
Human wolves are to be found inthe presence of alpha human wolves. At present the above and other BFFs of theirs are alphas, that is, until another comes along and challenges them. In the meanwhile, the pack forms around them and to identify who they are, just take a look at pictures and see who is always gathered around, toadying, grinning like a Cheshire cat, smug in the self assurance that it is a good thing to be in the nasty wolf pack.
It is not. Why follow a person who has nothing good to say about anyone and worse, throws out nastiness like a dog sheds water and fleas. These human wolves love to attack, though they go off whimpering when challenged, and generally try to sneak atttack, like Trump with his executive orders and vile tweets. Thus, they are most likely to double down on attacking opponents, especially Trump, who seemingly never sat in a classroom where he absorbed any understanding of the rules of grammar, of writing, and indeed, any ethics of a moral social being. The nastiness re Cummings and the denigrated citizens of Baltimore were the targets yesterday. Ugly indeed.
The frightening thing to consider is whether, or actually when, this nastiness turns physical. When will our enforcement officers come out swinging, batons, tear gas, mace and all. Will there be any restraint, any restrainer, any elder with wisdom of the ages, for it seems that our elders in government have lost their way and the young ones, the challenging ones, are also lost.
Wolves take on any challengers, determined to keep their position, and work on the rule of the jungle. Civilization, the things we have learned through the ages mean nothing, and in fact, are deemed harmful to us. So we ignore science as our earth burns, going right past the tipping point. We do nothing as people starve, die from lack of clean water, any water. We ignore the piteous cries of children and treat them worse than we treat our domestic pets! We have allowed our growth as humans to be subsumed in our greed, in allowing the savage part of us to prevail - to become wolves.
Read what Comey said yesterday."Millions of 2016 Trump voters are not racists. Now those Americans need the strength of character to resolve they will not again vote for someone who clearly is. It’s not about judges or taxes. It’s about who we are as a nation." Read of the compliments that Michelle Obama gave to a step dance group from Baltimore, you know, the rats from the infested city!!!. Read the following Welsh inscription, - The sun on the hill forgot to die, and the lilies revived, and the dragonfly came back to dream on the river." and then ask yourself why we cannot remember that beautiful sentiment, take hope, roll up our sleeves and remember that we are humans, advanced beyond the savage lupine nature found within mankind, rejected it for the progress we have made, for the caring we have displayed and learned.
On Saturday, Kristin Chenoweth opened the WNBA All Star game with a rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. Incredible!! Listen to it on You Tube or MSNBC or wherever. That was the best one I have ever heard. She hit every note, sang with passion, with appropriate feeling and respect. As I listened, watched, I wondered when I will be able to sing our anthem with that same feeling of hope for our future, indeed, for our present. When can I salute the country as it returns to its roots, to its improved roots, seeking to keep on improving even as it turns away all the wolves who come out to bare fangs at us, threaten us, endanger us. When?
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