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THERE'S a SHEEP BORN every SECOND
-by David Kirkwood.
It was reported by the Associated Press that last July, near the
town of Gavas, eastern Turkey, one sheep among a large flock
walked to the edge of a cliff and jumped to its . A second
sheep quickly imitated the first, also leaping off the cliff to its .
Then a third sheep followed. Then a fourth. Then a fifth.
The AP reported that "stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the
herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500
others followed, each leaping off the same cliff."
When it was all over, 450 sheep had died and 1,050 survived, but
only because those sheep that jumped later were saved as the
pile of sheep got higher and the fall more cushioned. Imagine the
peer pressure that last sheep must have felt.
Surely 1,499 sheep can't be wrong, can they?
There is no such thing as a sheep that possesses leadership
qualities-all are born followers. Consequently, any sheep that does
anything out of the ordinary, regardless of how foolish it is, becomes
a leader by default. And all the other sheep, having no idea what it
means to think for themselves, blindly follow. They simply assume
the "lead sheep" must know something that they don't.
I once watched scores of sheep jump over an obstacle that didn't
exist, only because the first sheep in line had jumped over that
same invisible obstacle. Perhaps not wanting to appear foolish,
they all acted like fools.
Slaughter houses take advantage of this weakness among sheep,
commonly employing what they call a "Judas sheep" that every
day leads the other sheep down the corridor to where their throats will be
slit.
I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. It is no accident that
God refers to people, and often His own people, as sheep - probably
not the highest compliment.
Sheep are dumb, and I mean d-u-m, dumb. They are easily misled,
and so are we. As hard as it may be to admit, we generally tend to
be followers who let others do our thinking for us. Sadly, we'll follow
just about anyone who appears to know what he is talking about.
The wool is easily pulled over our eyes if somebody draws big
crowds (1,499 sheep can't be wrong, can they?), has initials after
his name, shows some stage presence (what is often referred to
as "anointing"), can read Greek, is on TV, or has written a book.
"There's a sucker born every minute," quipped P.T. Barnum, but
I'm afraid there's a sheep born every second. And there are a lot
of sheep who are leaders by default only because the rest of us
are too sheepish to question where they're leading us. Unfortunately,
they're often leading us off the edge of cliffs, over non-existent
obstacles, or down slaughter house corridors.
-by David Kirkwood.
It was reported by the Associated Press that last July, near the
town of Gavas, eastern Turkey, one sheep among a large flock
walked to the edge of a cliff and jumped to its . A second
sheep quickly imitated the first, also leaping off the cliff to its .
Then a third sheep followed. Then a fourth. Then a fifth.
The AP reported that "stunned Turkish shepherds, who had left the
herd to graze while they had breakfast, watched as nearly 1,500
others followed, each leaping off the same cliff."
When it was all over, 450 sheep had died and 1,050 survived, but
only because those sheep that jumped later were saved as the
pile of sheep got higher and the fall more cushioned. Imagine the
peer pressure that last sheep must have felt.
Surely 1,499 sheep can't be wrong, can they?
There is no such thing as a sheep that possesses leadership
qualities-all are born followers. Consequently, any sheep that does
anything out of the ordinary, regardless of how foolish it is, becomes
a leader by default. And all the other sheep, having no idea what it
means to think for themselves, blindly follow. They simply assume
the "lead sheep" must know something that they don't.
I once watched scores of sheep jump over an obstacle that didn't
exist, only because the first sheep in line had jumped over that
same invisible obstacle. Perhaps not wanting to appear foolish,
they all acted like fools.
Slaughter houses take advantage of this weakness among sheep,
commonly employing what they call a "Judas sheep" that every
day leads the other sheep down the corridor to where their throats will be
slit.
I'm sure you know where I'm going with this. It is no accident that
God refers to people, and often His own people, as sheep - probably
not the highest compliment.
Sheep are dumb, and I mean d-u-m, dumb. They are easily misled,
and so are we. As hard as it may be to admit, we generally tend to
be followers who let others do our thinking for us. Sadly, we'll follow
just about anyone who appears to know what he is talking about.
The wool is easily pulled over our eyes if somebody draws big
crowds (1,499 sheep can't be wrong, can they?), has initials after
his name, shows some stage presence (what is often referred to
as "anointing"), can read Greek, is on TV, or has written a book.
"There's a sucker born every minute," quipped P.T. Barnum, but
I'm afraid there's a sheep born every second. And there are a lot
of sheep who are leaders by default only because the rest of us
are too sheepish to question where they're leading us. Unfortunately,
they're often leading us off the edge of cliffs, over non-existent
obstacles, or down slaughter house corridors.
