The Wolves We Feed Show Our True Colors

By Bre Benson – Contributor

Let me tell you a story.

A Cherokee elder was teaching his young 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, self-doubt and ego.”

“The other is good, he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.”

“This same fight is going on inside you—and inside every other person, too.”

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

The elder simply replied, “The one you feed.”

The true origin of this story is unknown, but historians attribute it to the Cherokee or Lenape people. There are several names and condensed versions of this story; however, I believe this one is relevant in many things, including the sports culture here at Chadron State College today.

It is no secret that various teams on campus have struggled throughout past years. If you ask the students, there’s a consensus being made that these struggles are due to hate.

Feelings of hate, blame, arrogance, self-pity, and superiority to name a few, are not limited to the culture within the teams either. Apps like YikYak allow the student body to feed into the negativity. Comments questioning why players are in their respective positions, why specific plays are being made, and even why certain people are on their team plague the app.

These comments make it increasingly difficult for the players to focus on their job without the weight of these words on their shoulders and thoughts of self-doubt clouding their mind.

How do we expect our teams to make the changes necessary to win, when as a college, we spend time feeding the first wolf and not the second? How are we going to compete with a sound mindset when our athletes are constantly told by students, they should be embarrassed by games, plays, misses, and falls that happened in the past?

While there still needs to be accountability and drive from within the teams, if we quit feeding the first wolf, and consciously worked towards feeding the second, there could be a positive shift in our teams’ success and the culture within the student body.