Wolf and Sheep - Yuxuan Sha (Sasa)

Once upon a time, on the beautiful Mongolia prairie, another story between the wolves and the sheep was silently taking place. It was a evening in the mid-summer, a lone wolf slowly crept up behind a crowd of sheep. The wolf was very young and had probably never hunted on its own before. It looked nervous, and hesitated in the shadows, but hunger urged it forward. Finally, the wolf leaped and chased after the startled sheep. After a long time, an old sheep accidently fell into a crack in the middle of the ground due to exhaustion, and the wolf quickly jumped in after it. So, the situation changed, we had a lone wolf and a lone sheep standing face to face in the crack. Frightened, the old sheep stamped and snorted, pleading the other sheep for help. The crowd of other sheep all stopped in response and surrounded the crack, nervously watching, but none willing to do something to help. After the poor old sheep realized that it was completely on its own, it suddenly calmed down. The old sheep lowered its head, showing its short but sharp horns, and lunged at the wolf, ready for a final battle before its death. However, the wolf was still too young and innocent, surprised at the sheep’s sudden protest, it only had time to give a yelp before being knocked down by the sheep. Defeated, the wolf stumbled out of the crack and ran away into the prairie.

This is a real story my grandfather had witnessed when he was a child, and it was ridiculous. A huge crowd of at least fifty sheep, blindly running away from a tiny lone wolf and won’t even thought about protesting until one of them was left alone. So, I asked my grandfather how could such a thing happen in real life? And My grandfather explained. The sheep allowed themselves to be chased around by a single wolf not because they were actually that scared of the wolf. Some of the sheep might not even knew what was chasing them, they only knew that everybody was running, and so should they. The other sheep who saw the wolf and knew who was their enemy didn’t protest neither because they were waiting for someone else to do it. Of course, a single wolf couldn’t possibly win a fight against fifty sheep, but it was quite possible that the first sheep to turn around and face the wolf was going to be hurt first. So, none of the sheep was willing to be the sacrifice. However, when the old sheep fell into the crack with the wolf and the situation changed, the old sheep was willing to protest as a result of helplessness. The old sheep realized that there was nobody else to stand up for it and itself was already the sacrifice no matter what. So on the contrary, it was willing to fulfill the job and even surprisingly succeed.

This kind of story happens all the time, not just on the mongolia prairie, but also everywhere in our society. The Holocaust, and all kinds of massacres are all results of people not standing up for each other and end up being killed all together. So, it’s time to put down the selfishness and protest before it’s too late. Just like the lone wolf, our enemy might actually be a lot weaker than we thought.