Wolfs in sheep’s clothing: 4 – 14 – 14

Currently in South Nevada. There are some protesters who are objecting to the BLM (Bureau of land management) over the rights of a rancher grazing on state/federal lands. A lot of people going to the ranch to protest government control. Apparently there are some people who had joined the crowd who are there specifically, to rile things up, and to cause an incident. Some of these agitators are from back east and may not have the same objectives as the local citizens protesting.

Object lesson: get a ball and start wrapping it with masking or duct tape. But have the sticky part of the tape, pointing out so that the entire ball is sticky. Then start playing a game of catch with the family or class members. Everyone should be surprised when they catch the ball and it sticks to their hands, making it’s hard to let go. This can be compared to two groups of people that may object to something such as a political stance on a topic. One group of people have a sincere objection, but share their opinions in a peaceful way. For example Martin Luther King had rules for his followers that they were to remain peaceful as they objected to the limited rights of African-Americans. But some people may participate in a protest who want to simply rile things up and turn the situation into a worst-case scenario by demonstrating violence.

The sticky ball could be interpreted as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. The ball looks like a fun thing to play with, but when you touch it and try to play with it. It pulls at your hands. This can be compared to will and sheep’s clothing. A teacher or parent could tell the story of how a wolf dresses up in sheep’s clothing to be able to travel within the herd of sheep to then capture and kill a sheep. The sticky ball could be compared to people with a violent agenda mixing themselves up in a peaceful demonstration.

Today I want to touch upon the theme that as we object to a political topic, that we must be cautious of who we associate with. Some people may say the ‘words’ that they agree with a certain concept, but they may actually have a separate agenda than those who want to demonstrate peacefully. They may want to cause an incident.

For that reason today’s topic is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. As we each work on trying to be our best selves. We may face a time where we feel we need to stand up for an important value. If we ever decide to do a peaceful demonstration (such as waving signs ) We need to make sure the following things.

1. Be careful of being played. There may be individuals who endeavor to lead us and then share flattering words to get us to follow them, but they may not really believe in what we believe in, and are only there to gain power for themselves. Many of these may be called politicians or are aspiring politicians. Or there may be members in the crowd that want to make the situation worse by offering violence instead of peaceful demonstration.
2. 2. As we do research on a certain principle. We need to remember the history of events as well as the current event. This includes a cause and effect for each action we and others preform.
3. 3. It is important for us to consider our motives behind of our actions. We want to be careful to not perform questionable acts for the sake of publicity.
4. 4. If we are individuals who do not condone violence we need to be wary of associating with people who condone it.
5. 5. We have examples of people that have suffered and died for their beliefs. Chief and foremost was Jesus Christ, the son of God. Other examples are Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Junior.

So the lesson today is to be weary of playing with a sticky all. We should always be careful of who we choose to associate with.

If you wish to contribute to this topic, please provide your responses in the comment section this blog.