We could all learn a little something from sheep

Work has been hellacious the past two weeks. Lots of unexpected, last minute business trips along with long working hours, including evenings and weekends. I’ll spare you the saga as we all have our own work challenges and series of long days from time to time. And in the grand scheme of things, my work troubles truly pale in comparison to what those people who have been affected by Hurricane Katrina have been through as well as the volunteers reaching out to help.

Suffice to say, that besides eating and sleeping, the only activity that has been a part of my daily routine over the past few weeks has been running. Running can be cathartic to me in many respects. Most of you reading this will probably groan inwardly as I make this statement. Stay with me for just a moment, though. Besides the obvious benefits of exercise, running gives me a change of scenery that is so incredibly necessary when your home and office are one and the same. Often, fourteen hours later I realize, I have not even left the apartment for the day! That's when I throw on the running shoes and hit the pavement.

Running also clears my head and requires me to focus on something else for at least 30-45 minutes (or longer as my Saturday morning runs have proven in the past). Takes me outside of myself. Years of running in the “Hachie” as well as running in the country (Mike, Kay, Bud, and I running on Black Champ Road, seeing Bud McCrady every Saturday morning hauling hay or checking his cattle) became routine occurrences. It also taught me to not only appreciate the beauty of the outdoors, but the value of seeing the scenery not from a car or bike, but from foot. You are amazed at the things you see on a 3 hour run that you would otherwise miss.

For that very reason, I have never been a very disciplined treadmill runner. In Taipei and Seoul, it became a necessity given the road conditions, number of people, lack of green space, and bad weather. Not so in Düsseldorf! With the Rhein River just a two minute walk from the apartment, I can be on the running path in mere minutes. I could even run to the next village (11 km away) from the running path if I wanted to, so there is plenty of “running” room.

With all that said, my greatest enjoyment when I am running these days is getting to see “my sheep”. They are not literally my sheep, but rather a local owner apparently has permission to graze his flock along the Rhein riverbank, thereby feeding his sheep and providing the city a useful service by keeping a lot of the grass trimmed. Some days I see them, some days I don’t, as they vary their grazing locations. Usually, I smell them before I see them.

Still, there is something endearing about running along and watching the flock: seeing mothers taking care of new lambs, hearing the mewing of a stray sounding the alarm “I’m lost”, and watching with amazement as an adult sheep hears the cry for help and leaves the flock to circle back and pick up the straggler. I am not even sure if it is actually the mother of the stray that provides the help; it seems it is just the nearest sheep that provides the assistance. Moments later, lamb and flock are reunited.

Other times, if I am running just around dusk, the sheep “leader” of the flock often moves the group to the area where they will sleep for the night. Usually, this is under a bunch of trees or bushes. The flock forms a single file line, and all the sheep move that direction, “baa-ing” occasionally, but no one appears to be really too upset that their sleep or eating has just been interrupted. They simply get up and go. The flock just needs to stay together, and besides there is food and rest to be had at the next grazing spot.

Quite a metaphor for life, and so relevant in these days of Hurricane Katrina and strangers helping strangers. Some days, we need to be the sheep that helps the straggler, whom we may not even know and who is in trouble or pain. Other days, we need to be the leader that takes the initiative to care for the flock of sheep, move them to a safe haven, even if for the night. Finally, there are some days that we simply need to be a good “follower” and trust that the lead sheep knows what’s best for the flock, not complaining that our creature comforts are temporarily inconvenienced for a bit. Just pitching in and doing our part - we can eat and sleep later…

And just to think...I got all this from watching “my sheep” on my daily runs. Pretty amazing…