Saint Francis and the Wolf
INSPIRATIONAL, 23 Feb 2015
Dietrich Fischer – TRANSCEND Media Service
[A Free Translation] – The ferocious wolf of Gubbio had eaten one of the villagers. All the villagers went out into the forest with knives, axes and hayforks to find and kill the wolf. St. Francis, who was said to be able to speak the languages of animals, went to see the wolf and had the following dialogue with him:
“Brother Wolf, what is your problem?” “I am hungry.”
“But that is no reason to eat one of the good-hearted, innocent citizens of Gubbio!”
“There was no alternative.”
“What if the villagers put out a big pot with all their leftover food at night, would you be willing to eat that instead?”
“I will try, but only once!”
“Thank you, Brother Wolf.”
Then St. Francis went to Gubbio, assembled all the villagers and asked them,
“What is your problem?”
“It is the wolf, he ate one of us and we want to kill him.”
“The wolf said he is hungry. Would you be willing to put out a big pot with all your leftover food at night so that the wolf can eat that instead?”
“We will try, but only once!” And so the villagers of Gubbio began to feed the wolf, and the wolf stopped eating people. And they became friends.
*****
Understanding the cause of an evil act does not mean excusing it, but if one can remove the cause, it can help prevent similar acts in the future.
Johan Galtung suggested to members of Italy’s general staff, who are familiar with this story from childhood, that this approach could have been used with Saddam Hussein instead of attacking Iraq. They replied,
“Saddam is certainly a wolf, but we are not St. Francis.”
*****
After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington on Sep 11, 2001, Galtung was on a podium discussion on Austrian television, which included the US Ambassador in Vienna. When Galtung observed that we must try to understand why this terrorist act occurred, the Ambassador was furious and asked,
“So you are trying to justify what happened?”
Galtung had to explain that nothing can justify such an atrocity, but if we fail to understand why it happened, we cannot prevent a future recurrence.
We must understand the causes of violence, in our own interest, to prevent it in the future. In no way does this justify violence, or blame the victims.
______________________________
Dietrich Fischer, born in 1941 in Münsingen, Switzerland, got a Licentiate in Mathematics from the University of Bern 1968 and his Ph.D. in Computer Science from New York University 1976. 1986-88 he was a MacArthur Fellow in International Peace and Security at Princeton University. He has taught mathematics, computer science, economics and peace studies at various universities and been a consultant to the United Nations.
Excerpted from Dietrich Fischer’s Stories to Inspire You – TRANSCEND University Press-TUP.
This article originally appeared on Transcend Media Service (TMS) on 23 Feb 2015.
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