Letter: Feeding the right wolf
Published 1:30 am Saturday, April 4, 2026
This past weekend, I stood at an I-5 on-ramp holding a “No Kings” sign. As the traffic light cycled, a motorcyclist stopped directly in front of me. He didn’t shout or gesture; he simply sat there, gently shaking his head, eyes fixed forward, pointedly refusing to look at me or my sign.
It wasn’t the look of someone ignoring a panhandler; it was the look of someone protecting a worldview.
In our current climate, we have become experts at curated isolation. Liberals often retreat into preferred newspapers and stations; conservatives often lean on social media and hard-right sources. We both depend on these bubbles to consistently inform—and protect—our existing views. This encounter reminded me of a story often attributed to Cherokee wisdom: the parable of the two wolves.
An old grandfather explains to his grandson that a fight is going on inside every person—a fight between two wolves. One is the “Dark Wolf” of anger, arrogance, lies, and superiority.
The other is the “Light Wolf” of peace, humility, empathy, and truth. When the grandson asks, “Which wolf will win?” the grandfather simply replies, “The one you feed.”
When we refuse to look at one another, or when we consume only the information that fuels our resentment of the “other side,” we are making a choice about which wolf to nourish.
If we want a different future, we have to start changing the diet of our discourse.
David Wittrock
Stanwood
