Sheep, Sheepdogs, and Wolves By Alan Wimbish
I remember where I was on 9/11. If you were alive then, you remember where you where also. These are my generations “Where were you when…” moments. My father remembers where he was when Pearl Harbor was bombed. My mother remembers where she was when JFK was assassinated. Over and over again, there have been terrorist attacks against soft targets in this country and now they are becoming almost everyday news fodder. I believe that an armed society is a safer society. Terrorist, murderers, whatever you want to all them, do not attack people who shoot back. They want victims who are defenseless because they are first and foremost cowards. But this is not an article on 2nd amendment rights, it’s about the terrorism threat facing America. The phrase terrorism is used when a person or a group of persons tries to intimidate the public or influence governmental change through violence. It seems to always involve the killing of innocent people. The basis of terrorism is killing. We usually call this “murder”. When I was a police officer, I realized that there are people who will kill you and sleep good tonight. That’s just the plain truth. The same is true with certain groups of people who have no conscience. These groups hide behind some agenda, kill people, and sleep good at night. It’s just plain evil. Whether the President calls it Islamic Terrorism, whether it’s the Aryan Brotherhood, or whether it’s the Bloods or the Crips street gangs, they are all evil, and they are all led by people with no conscience or respect for law and order. Terrorism comes in many shapes, forms, and colors. What’s the answer? How do we fight againt terrorism; we all know what it is when we see it. I don’t know if there’s a simple answer to such a complex situation. This is the way I see it. There are three types of people in the world; wolves, sheep, and sheepdogs. The wolves are obvious, they’re the bad guys. The sheep are the average persons in the society who is oblivious to their surroundings and refuses to call a spade a spade. Then, there are the sheepdogs. These are the protectors of the sheep. The wolves look for their targets by marking out the weak sheep. The ones that look like an easy target. The sheep that are afraid to stand up and point out the wolves. The sheepdogs not only protect themselves, but are willing to protect the sheep. They stand up to wrong and point out the wolves, the evil ones. You see, sheepdogs don’t worry about political correctness. They don’t concern themselves with hurting feelings because sheepdogs value truth. Who would you want protecting your herd of sheep? A sheepdog who recognizes danger and confronts it, or a sheepdog that says and does nothing because he doesn’t want to hurt the wolves feelings or risk labeling the wolf as a predator. Seriously, who wants to be a wolfaphobe? I’m being facetious or course. The reason terrorist strike at America, whether they be Islamic terrorist or some homegrown variety unrelated to Islam, is because America has grown soft. There are too many soft targets in America. Too many people in America are unwilling to stand up and call a spade a spade. By not calling terrorism what it is, it emboldens these groups to continue to practice their craft of murder. This all stems from our national leadership of course. If the leader of the most powerful nation in the world won’t call it like it is, the people will follow. There’s nothing wrong with telling the truth; we need more of it. By not calling terrorism what it truly is and that it is sprouting in ALL areas of our society, not just Islam, then we should light up the sheep signal and broadcast it to the world that we are an easy and open target. If you suspect that you have cancer or some other illness that could kill you, would you want yout doctor to be truthful with you regarding the diagnosis AND the cure or to just pat your head and tell you, “There, there, everything will be ok. Pay no attention to the huge lump on this x-ray, it should go away in time.” No of course not! If your doctor did this, you could sue him for malpractice because he didn’t tell you the truth. The President, the Governor, Congress, every elected official takes an oath to defend the constitution and the people under their care. Yet, in order to keep the Kum-by-ya song going, we have to deny the obvious, keep our heads in the ground, and become a softer target every day. Don’t be soft! Don’t be a sheep! Remember, there are people and groups of people out there that will kill you and sleep good tonight. Don’t let these evil people tell you where to go or what to do. You are free in America to go where you want and associate with who you want to associate with. You are also free to be ignorant of your surroundings and the world that you live in. But, be warned, you are the target that the terrorist are looking for. Be vigiliant, be prepared, stand up for the truth, and point out evil when you see it. Remember, wolves attack sheep, not sheepdogs. I do not trust our President or elected leaders to really confront terrorism in America. There knee-jerk reaction is to make new laws that in the end only hurt law-aiding citizens. As if the terrorist will say, “Oh no, the President has just signed a new law that says we can’t be terrorist anymore! What are we gonna do?” Terrorist operate outside of the law, therefore a law will not prevent them from murdering innocent people. It just gives the government the ability to prosecute terrorist AFTER they have murdered innocent people. I feel like the goal should be to not get murdered in the first place. No American citizen should live in fear of what some crazy group is going to do. I don’t really care if a terrorist is offended by telling the truth about who they are and that what they stand for is pure evil (remember, it’s not just radical Islam that can be terrorist). Terrorist should live in fear of Americans and the potential that we have to hunt them down and destroy them. After 9/11, the terrorist should have echoed the chilling words that Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto said to his countrymen after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, “We have awakened a sleeping giant.” Unfotunately, the terrorist, Islamic and others, are saying, “Where can we hit next?”
