Alpha Sheep

There once roamed, in a far off land of never-ending rolling green hills and valleys, a large flock of sheep. Now they all looked pretty much the same, of course,and most spent their days just eating, catching some z's, and frolicking in little groups. Most, that is, but two of them.

These two were the "alpha" sheep. A male and a female. They strode together all day, about a shoulder higher than the rest, or so it seemed. Alpha's always seem taller because of their position, whether they are or not. Now, the rest of the sheep gave them respect. In fact, most of the sheep were known to perhaps a few other sheep, but the whole flock knew of these two, of the male, who walked past with his head up and flashing his wise eyes at the rest from under his grand rack of antlers, and his wife by his side.

Now it just so happened that a little kid sheep watched these two for a time, and grew more and more curious. Really, he envied these two just as human kids envy heroes on TV. He wanted to be like them. He knew there was only one way to find out how to do it; he would have to approach them and ask them what it is about them.

The next morning, with the dew on the grass and the fog hanging low in the valley as carpet for the rising rays of the warming sun, the kid looked up and saw the alpha sheep standing alone atop the highest hill around, gazing out over. He collected himself, and with his little heart beating hard, he walked up the hill. What would they do to him? he thought. Maybe they're respected because they're mean, and they will send me rolling back down. Maybe they're super strong and will want to tie my for legs into a pretzel. With all these pictures in his head, he rounded the top and stood before the couple. Both calmly looked over at him. "Well hi there," the alpha male said.

"H-hi, sir. I, uh, have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"H-how come you're so, uh, looked up to? So famous? Why do so many of us follow you and respect all of your ways and decisions? Is it because of your muscles? Is it because of your big rack of antlers? Or is it because you are really smart?"

The alpha female looked at her partner and laughed. He, too, chuckled. "Son, it's none of those. In fact, I don't have any more muscle or smarts than anyone else down there. Actually son, it's quite simple. We sheep are meant to follow. While all of you choose to follow each other, I simply chose one day to follow the shephard. See him out there? He knows where the water and the greenest grass is. He knows where the danger is, and where it is to be safe, and I figured out one day that I want to follow him instead, and the rest just fell in line behind me."

With that, the kid had a changed life.

As humans, we have a duality in us that tends to cause strife sometimes. We do naturally have an instinct to follow, yet in our culture, being a "follower" is not something to be proud of, to say the least. Yet, we all do follow. Some follow others around us, either openly or secretly. Some follow the blind feelings in ourselves that tell us how to get the next fix to feel safe or pleasurable. The bottom line is, even though we don't want to be known as such, we all do follow. So why not follow what is real? The real McCoy that can get you genuine inner peace, a full life, and the Truth? The Real Shephard? After all, I believe that is why we have this instinct.

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