An old man says to his grandson: 'There's a fight going on inside me."

[kpete]

Quote d'jour

An old man says to his grandson: 'There's a fight going on inside me. It's a terrible fight between two wolves. One is evil -- angry, greedy, jealous, arrogant, and cowardly. The other is good -- peaceful, loving, modest, generous, honest, and trustworthy. These two wolves are also fighting within you, and inside every other person too.'
After a moment, the boy asks, 'Which wolf will win?'
The old man smiles.
'The one you feed.'

--Rutger Bregman, Humankind: A Hopeful History
https://theacademy.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/two-wolves-cherokee-story.pdf
https://www.claritychi.com/the-cherokee-two-wolves-story-and-the-power-of-mindset/

[leftyladyfrommo]

1. It's American Indian. Cherokee, I think

It's a good quote.

[padah513]

7. Yes and it is a good quote

[intheflow]

15. No. It's from Billy Graham.

https://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/

[nuxvomica]

2. I see the wolves as "corruption" and "innocence"

The corruption wolf is characterized by sham, drudgery and fear while the innocence wolf is honest, playful and full of wonder.

[State the Obvious]

3. It's an old Native-American (Cherokee) tale...

...called the BATTLE OF TWO WOLVES. It is the young grandson who asks that question to his wise grandfather, the tribal Chief. (Moral of story, the same.)

[MineralMan]

4. That is a great old story.

I heard it long, long ago, and always thought it was well worth remembering.

[Novara]

5. Thank you for this!

I love this.

Yes, we get to choose. Let's choose wisely.

[riversedge]

6. oh, that was very GOOD. thanks

[Maine Abu El Banat]

8. That was great!

Thanks for posting. It is so true!

[Lonestarblue]

9. Every person in America needs to see that quote and hear it repeatedly.

Republican leaders and politicians, Fox, hate radio personalities, Internet conspiracy sites, and some social media feed the angry, hatful wolf every single day. They do not want the good wold to win.

[bhikkhu]

10. Worth mentioning, that's the opposite of "common sense"

which in various ways teaches that if we bottle up our feelings they'll eat us up inside.

I've always felt the thing the OP describes, especially when I was a teenager. Without thinking it through really I did decide to not act on or express bad or harmful feelings; pretty much just using self-discipline. I never did get "eaten up inside" or whatever, and the primary regrets I have are the few times I did say harmful things, rather than using my better judgement and ignoring/suppressing the impulses.

[cayugafalls]

11. My adopted uncle (Seneca-Cayuga tribe) told me that story when I was a youngster in Ohio.

He was a dear friend of the family and I miss him to this day.

So much wisdom we have washed over and pushed down.

[calimary]

13. Always good to write it down in some form.

I’ve found that writing stuff down always seems to help with remembering.

[Stuart G]

12. GREAT QUOTE

[intheflow]

14. This was created by Billy Graham.

It originally was presented as an “Indian parable” but Graham made it up out of whole cloth.

https://apihtawikosisan.com/2012/02/check-the-tag-on-that-indian-story/

[cayugafalls]

16. Interesting. The author does say that "This story seems to have begun in 1978..."

And then presents a story by Graham about an Eskimo and his dogs.

Personally, I believe that parables are timeless throughout culture. Even a bar drunk can stumble upon a "bit of wisdom" when he tells a drunken story from some long distant memory lost in the fog of his stupor.

The author of that article you cited, cites a tumblr researcher that no longer exists, so the trail goes cold rather quickly.

The version I remember, is not quite the same as either story, but the parable remains the same.

If you harbor evil in your heart and dwell upon the darkness, it will overtake you.