I am currently re-watching the popular TV show “Breaking Bad” on Netflix. Let me give you a brief premise if you have been living under a rock for the past 5 years; Breaking Bad depicts the transformation of an innocent high school teacher into a murderous drug kingpin.
No, the protagonist does not have any mental issues.
This show really got me thinking about the human nature. More importantly, I struggled to understand whether we are inherently good or bad. Fortunately, after some research I did discover a story that I would like to share with you. It is called “The two wolves”:
An old Cherokee and his grandson are sitting around a fire place at dusk
“A fight is going on inside me,” says the old Cherokee
“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.”
Upon reading this story I realised something; a dog which bites on furniture can live its whole life without knowing whether its action is good or bad. It only realises that it is doing something wrong when the master gives him/her a punishment.
Humans are the same. As babies, we are taught morals by our parents. These morals are more or less established by society.
Yet, there is still a small hiccup; why do some people who have excellent upbringings still commit such atrocious crimes?
The answer to this question is simple. Human beings, in contrast to other animals, have a very sensitive conscience. This is our blessing and curse. For we can very easily pick up the good things that our parents/society tell us but perhaps even more easily pick up the bad things that we might see on TV or through a friend, etc.
This is the dichotomy inside of us; a battle between the good wolf and the bad wolf. Yet I disagree with the old Cherokee. I believe that no matter how much you feed the good wolf, it can never completely defeat the bad wolf. They are like yin and yang. One cannot exist without the other.
This is perhaps why I love the alternate ending of the story proposed by Dean Yeong;
The old Cherokee simply replied, “If you feed them right, they both wins.” and the story goes on:
“You see, if I only choose to feed the white wolf, the black one will be hiding around every corner waiting for me to become distracted or weak and jump to get the attention he craves. He will always be angry and will always fight the white wolf.”
“. How you choose to interact with the opposing forces within you will determine your life. Starve one or the other or guide them both.”
In retrospect, I wanted to finish this article right here right now. This beautiful story of the Cherokee encompasses our struggle in life and should deserve to be the final paragraph of my article. However, as a reader you might understand that we should live a balanced life but there will still be a burning query in your brain;
How do we live a balanced life?
This is an arcane question and merits its own blog post. Ergo, I invite you readers to visit my part 2 of this blog post; How do we live a balanced life?