Posts by Pat:
Which role in the pack do you fulfill?
I got an intriguing glimpse into two different cultures (both the wolf culture and the Eskimo culture) as I reread the Newberry Award classic of 1974 by Jean Craighead George, titled Julie of the Wolves.
I’d be interested to know where you would find yourself in them!
This is a moving novel of a 13 year old girl’s courage and her will to survive on the North Slope of Alaska. She is alone, except for a pack of Arctic wolves, into whose company she is slowly accepted and whom she comes to love as though they were her brothers.
She observes and then learns their methods of communication. She revels in their different personalities and notices the different roles they play in the pack.
What this young adult novel exemplified for me was the quote attributed to Rudyard Kipling that
“the strength of the wolf is the pack,
and the strength of the pack is the wolf.”
The following guiding principles are articulated by the well-known wolf and dog pack expert, Del Goetz:
Wolf Credo
Respect the elders
Cooperate with the pack
Play when you can
Hunt when you must
Rest in between
Share your affections
Voice your feelings
Leave your mark
(Does this remind you a bit of Everything I Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?)
Everyone does not strive to be the leader in the wolf pack. Some are consummate hunters or caregivers or jokesters, but each seems to gravitate to the role he does best. And the pack is the better for it.
I also learned of a book entitled Wisdom of Wolves:Na
ture’s Way to Organizational Success by Tyman Towery that applies the organization of the wolf pack and the roles of each pack member to lessons for those who work in groups, organizations, communities.
It explains some of the crucial elements of any successful organization, such as teamwork, communication, perseverance and attitude. It uses the wisdom of the wolves to exemplify how best to utilize the talents of each member.
As we look at ourselves…
(in our families, in our workplaces, in our organizations, and in our churches)
we can be reminded to base our actions on the questions,
“What is best for our pack?”
“What is our role?”
“What is our best way to communicate?”
And since variety is the spice of life, we know we are each blessed with a variety of skills, aptitudes, styles, opportunities, gifts!
It’s what makes our life together so very fascinating!
So what lessons have you learned from your “pack” experiences?
Remember the computer saying G.I.G.O. ?
Did you know that at birth, a baby’s brain contains 100 billion neurons, roughly as many nerve cells as there are stars in the Milky Way, according to a Times magazine article? And what do we feed it? My first reaction? “Wow, we get all that power and hardware with no owner’s manual or instruction […]
Thoughts for the end of the year
As the year comes to a close, I like to reflect both forwards and backwards! So how will you release the 2013 year and welcome in the 2014?
Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody!
This poem by Charles Osgood is about four people: Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody. Which one do you know best? “There was a most important job that needed to be done, And no reason NOT to do it, there was absolutely none. But in vital matters such as this the thing you have […]
Winter…again?
They come regularly, right after autumn. Some are long, some are short, some are difficult, some are easy, but they always come right after autumn. That is never going to change. There are all kinds of winters-the “winter” when we can’t figure it out, the “winter” when everything seems to go haywire. There are economic winters, […]
Is broken better than new?
On one hand… The story goes that a 15th century Japanese shogun, Ashikaga Yoshimasa, sent a broken tea bowl to China to have it fixed. When the bowl came back, it was held together with metal staples. Disgusted, he set out to find a better, more aesthetically pleasing way to repair broken pottery. His […]
Thoughts for the season?
With the holidays approaching rapidly, my thoughts seem to focus on how much I have to be grateful for. And I bet yours do too! Here’s my selections for this month’s quotes! Here’s some fun favorite thoughts! […]
Average vs. Awesome
“Average” gets a bad rep! But what if you do “average” really, really well? Hear me out. I’ve always had a lot of projects. I used them to keep me motivated. They were, of course, usually fun and often inspiring. But I read something recently that makes me wonder if perhaps I was trying to […]
A heart-warming story for tomorrow…
Back in 2005, a social studies schoolteacher from Arkansas did something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with permission of the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she took all of the desks out of the classroom. The kids came into first period, they walked in; there were no […]