Long ago I read a thought provoking article by Lt. Dave Grossman, In the article he defines three groups in society: sheep, sheepdogs, and wolves.

The sheep are the kind, good people who don’t want to think anything bad will happen, and take no actions to protect themselves from that possibility. (This term is not used as a pejorative.) The wolves are obviously the bad guys who prey on others. The focus of the article is on the sheepdogs – the good guys who have the capacity to confront and resist evil.

In the context this was written, I fall well into the sheep category – depending on the good guys to physically defend me in a bad situation. But I’ve been thinking a lot about this analogy lately, since it goes further than readiness to respond to physical threats.

When a physical crime is enacted, it’s clear that evil is taking place. But there are other dangers that aren’t visible even when they are happening in front of our eyes.

Sheepdogs have the ability to recognize the danger long before others, and their task is to protect the flock. They write articles, speak out, hold rallies, and warn others about the dangers with the intention to help others protect themselves.

We need the sheepdogs, the people who will stand in the uncomfortable space of recognizing threats (dangers that the ‘sheep’ prefer to think don’t exist) and taking steps to neutralize those dangers to the rest of the population.

Since last winter, our sheepdogs have increasingly have been censored, silenced and deplatformed. And who are left? The wolves and those who think everything the wolves do is for their benefit. ***

Many months ago the media adroitly took steps to promote a narrative that would divide and polarize the population, defining anyone who questions their narrative as selfish, paranoid, conspiracy theorists. Since the vast majority of us are good, kind people who care about our fellows and want to get along with them, we went along with that. We distanced ourselves from being defined as part of that undesirable population.

Rather than question the narrative ourselves, we turned on the those who are trying to alert us – for our own protection – that excessive government control was dangerous to our freedoms. It’s so much easier to live in denial than to confront evil, and it’s easier to turn on the sheepdogs than on the wolves. The great irony is that by turning against those who are protecting us, we leave ourselves wide open to harm by the wolves.

Truth and the defense of truth is very important to me. In this context, that makes me a sheepdog. For a sheepdog to act like a sheep is deeply distressing, and I’ve been living with an acute sense of conflict for months as I continually hold back. I want you to be aware of what is happening, so you consciously make choices that will best serve you, and so you can prepare for the challenges that are coming. Not because it gives me the jollies to alarm anyone, but to keep your family safe.

You may be asking yourself, is she talking about the jabberwocky? Yes, in part, but it’s much bigger than that.

My lifeblood is to educate and empower others, so you can live your best lives. I predicted the current censorship, which has been extraordinarily successful – and most of the population has no idea how extensive the censorship is, because you can’t hear those who are silenced – and I believe we’re going to see increasing censorship: of holistic health, nutrition, education, economics, etc. All the things I write about that are still acceptable to talk about now, which preemptively I am reluctant to continue to write about. Dissension and even independent thought are not going to be tolerated.

In my final expressive arts class, we were asked to decorate a slice of a circle that defined each of us, and then the slices were connected to make a whole.

When we were asked to share about my painting, I didn’t want to speak, since it was so emotional and conflicting for me. My core essence is to outflow in all directions, to share with and impact others, and it’s painful to me that sharing with others about anything that isn’t superficial feels unsafe.

None of us can or should repress our core selves. It’s not fair to me, but it’s also not fair to you. I don’t know how to navigate this new world that is going insane. I may change some of my wording or in some cases, you may have to read between the lines of what I write and extrapolate. Or I may choose not write. Sometimes it takes so much emotional energy to think about writing that I’m left too tired to actually write. But I’m going to try.

Avivah

***Edited to clarify: I am not referring to the average person or lay advocate who takes a different position than myself as ‘wolves’. I absolutely abhor the demonization of people on either side of the aisle. My reference is to much broader forces.