It was a breezy autumn day on the Pine Ridge Reservation and a young boy was sharing the smells and the colors of the season as he walked down Reservation Road with his Grandfather.

The scenery along the walk was a curious mix of old and new, a rich history and a poor people; the beautiful fall colors were offset by the brown dullness of rusted cars abandoned along the way.

Somewhere in the clutter the sound of growling and barking broke the serene silence of the experience.

Two stray dogs were fighting over the contents of a toppled garbage can.  Wrappers and boxes littered their makeshift battlefield.  As the battle of wills raged between the two dogs they became caught up in a tug of war with a steak bone.

The young boy looked from the dogs to his grandfather with a curious expression and asked why the dogs were fighting.

“Why don’t they just share the food?” said the boy.

The wise old man responded that there exists a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, “My son, 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 boy looked to the dogs continuing to fight over the bone, thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?”
The old Lakota simply replied, “The one you feed.”

© 2009 R. Wolf Baldassarro/Deep Forest Productions