One evening, an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, “The battle is between two wolves inside us all.
“One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
“The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Cherokee simply replied, “The one you feed.”
The Cherokee are Native American people, originally indigenous to the Southeastern United States.
Image: Chief Standing Bear (c. 1829–1908) was a Native American civil rights leader who successfully argued in the U.S. District Court in 1879 in Omaha that Native Americans are persons within the meaning of the law, thus becoming the first Native American judicially granted civil rights under American law. The US stamp issued in 2023 honours the man who won the landmark court ruling that determined that Native Americans were persons with inherent rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
Image courtesy https://www.cherokeephoenix.org/