What wolf did you feed today ?

There is a Native Indian (American) legend that has become cornerstone of my thinking and my way of living past many a years. Others have often remarked and asked me - how can you remain happy, smiling and make fun of life when every thing around you is falling apart - falling apart is what happens every now and then and considering that I am an average man living his life then one can   presumedly inference that average person around the world also goes through same turmoil and emotion. Before I go any further let me first narrate the story.

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.

“It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”

The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”

Well as we go about living our lives we have to feed one of the two wolves - feed the good and we are more Angel than Devil and feed the Evil we are more Devil than the Angel. The point is many a times we do not feed any of them knowingly - but are fed. One of this important thing feeding us is our environment. Unfortunately we are being force fed the Devil at the moment. Please give me a moment to clarify myself. When I wake up in the morning I do not remember my creator - but check for WhatsApp, and if you are a generation older - your first instinct is to reach out for the Newspaper. 

I must admit that I am neither the WhatsApp kind nor the Newspaper Kind but then there are moments when the News/Newspaper tends to thrust itself like it did today morning. I am presently in a hotel and I heard the newspaper being slid beneath the door. I could not help but get up and reach for it. 

Well here is what I saw on the front page...

Newspaper dated 12 Dec 2016

If you notice the front page talks about 202 people dead on in the four news articles and that is me - without even opening the front page fully. With so much of negativity It will be a surprise that we can ever live our lives trying to feed the good wolf. It is not the question of me feeding the wolf but what someone else is feeding me and my wolf.

Talking about reaching out for the newspaper in the morning I would like to narrate an incident from my life that brought about this change. I was in Mumbai and early morning without giving a thought walked out of my room and reached out for the newspaper, there on the table was a foreign pilot who asked me. Col Cheema - tell me what do you see in this newspaper - still not out of my slumber I muttered - news. he walked across and opened the paper for me and showed me what I am trying to show you. The front page was nothing but a dose of negativity - Death, Rape, Murder, Accident and what not. He asked me - do you want to start the day of your life in this manner ? with all this ? I realised that day what he said and with every passing day I am convinced the words he told me. 

But in all this the moot point is - does good news not exist ? Does good news not sell ? The answer may well be a resounding no - I remember talking to a Newspaper editor in North India who said that they have declared two days in a week as no Negative News days. Indian culture teaches us to start the day with remembering God / the Almighty and what are we doing instead - starting the day with such negativity ? 

So at the end of it - it is not about the beginning of the day but the entire day itself - just ask yourself a question before going to bed - what wolf did you feed today ?? The choice is always in your hands - don't blame the world for it...

The sunset as I thanked the Almighty for another wonderful day of my life