The Indifferent Lions
A troop of monkeys occupied a copse of trees one day where a path led down to a river.
A pride of lions used to take the path every day and were shocked when suddenly they found themselves under a rain of flung sticks, monkey poop, and rotten fruit. Ducking, dodging, and growling, they hustled off.
The monkeys loudly congratulated each other on their victory. They then started to discuss the lions’ countermeasures. Some said the lions would lie in wait at night and slowly try to pick off the monkeys. Some said the lions would sprint through in terror. Others said they would just suffer the monkeys’ abuse. The trees soon rang with the angry chatter of a hundred different arguments.
The next day, the lions came casually along the path as normal. When they came close to the copse they cut away from the path and made a beeline for another point on the river, equally convenient. Their new route kept them out of range of the trees.
Moral: ???
Comment: This fable is meant as a companion to the fable of the Harassed Aurochs. The lions were too strong and too indifferent for what they did to be considered a surrender. It was masterful indifference.
There are three types of responses to a threat that look like backing off. One is surrender. Surrender means some kind of real loss on the one and some kind of real victory on the other. Whether or not to surrender is a practical decision to be made with wisdom and honor. It should involve weighing the costs and the benefits. It should also involve consideration of whether the enemy is willing to be bought off. If the enemy is motivated by a will to dominate, no surrender can last because the enemy will keep returning to the attack until there is nothing left.
There is strategic retreat. A genuine strategic retreat looks a lot like a surrender. Except there is a genuine plan involved for coming back to win. The retreat is to build up forces, or to lure the enemy into a bad position.
Finally there is disengagement. Disengagement is what the lions did. They shrugged and moved on, because they weren’t really affected in any way. Disengagement is hard because honor and pride get insulted and we want to vindicate them. These are not bad motives. Especially for vulnerable groups, not vindicating honor can have real downsides because it signals weakness. But for the strong, indifference is best; it is too easy to lose strength and dignity in pointless squabbles. But in order to be indifferent, we first must learn confidence in our strength.
Filed under: Deseret Review | Tags: Aesop's fables, fables, parables
E.C.
August 3, 2020
Disengagement requires enough meekness and humility to step back from a situation where your enemy is taunting you, hoping that you will lose control.
In a totally different vein, martial artists often talk about how they’ll respond to different situations. Rarely do they talk about how to de-escalate or simply walk away. But truly, most situations don’t require any kind of response other than refusing to let the aggressor get under your skin. Unfortunately, most martial artists (indeed, most people) are not meek or humble enough to turn away from provocation. We could learn something from the Nephite’s code of war in Alma 43.
Sean G.
August 4, 2020
@EC- That is the opposite of my own experience. Every serious martial artists I’ve known is a master at de-escalation and it is discussed and studied in every school I’ve ever trained at.
E.C.
August 4, 2020
I ought to have said, most ‘nominal’ martial artists. The people who study for many years tend to eventually see de-escalation as the wisest course in the majority of tense situations. The others drop out after a while, because what they want is the *idea* of being a martial artist who could do damage to someone, not the actual *responsibility* that comes with the knowledge.