The Lion and the Lamb

Philosophers and sages of the past have often stated the bitter realities of life in parables and fables, to help the common man understand and reconcile with the facts of life. But it would be wrong to accept them holding good forever and universally applicable, because the realities change with time and circumstances.

Take for example the story of the lion, who was drinking water from a stream. Seeing a lamb having a drink nearby whetted his appetite. "Why are you making the water dirty?" he roared."But I am down stream while you are drinking water upstream" said the lamb meekly."Maybe so, but you called me names last summer when I came this way" said the lion visible annoyed."It could not be me, because I was only born in spring this year" said the lamb somewhat relieved."If it was not you, it must be your mother" roared the lion again before making a short meal of the lamb.

Things have changed since the story was told about a thousand years ago.Progress has helped the power to grow into the status of super-power, with the freedom to do whatever that suits it. Using the idiom of modern power-play the lion would have neither the patience nor the time to waste on the weakling. The king of the jungle would have cut the conversation short in the first instance saying " That is enough. I know that you intend to call me bad names now" before eating up his prey in his pre-emptive wisdom.But new knowledge has also provided counter point to every point made by the history. The cliches of the past like the lion being the "king of the jungle", the world being run according to the "law of jungle", and "might is right" are thus open to question.

One can see how the arrogance of the mightiest powers has brought them to their own destruction. The law of jungle is not unilateral but based on balance that helps to sustain it self. The ferocious king of jungle was dethroned the day he was seen running for his life, chased by an angry herd of grass eating buffaloes. Power does not lie in the weapons of tooth and claw but in unity and resolve of the deprived ---- a lesson that the powerful must not forget and the weak must remember.