Because the Goat Has The Bell

Over Sukkos, we ate at the home of some very close friends and from their porch enjoyed a majestic view of the opposing hills. Over said hills a Beduin sherpard walked far ahead of his flocks of sheep who grazed serenly, enjoying the weather and walking slowly but steadily onward.
I asked "How do the sheep know where to go?"

A flock of goats ahead of the sheep was pointed out. The one in the lead walked with the sheperd. "They follow the goats."

Me: "Why do they follow the goats?"

"Because the goat has the bell."

For the next month, that became the tag line for anything we didn't understand occured. We used it to answer all inquires for which there was no better reason.

4 weeks later, I had a discussion with a friend about people and their tendencies to do what others do, or tell them is the right thing to do, or what somone claims someone else did/does do the exclusion of any independant thought.

It didn't hit me until a few days later- Its 'because the goat has the bell'. There's no damn good reason that people do half of the crap they do. But here is the thing.

Do they know that they are following the sheep who are following the goats following the bell? Its all good and well for a sheep. It needs to follow the bell because the bell is on the lead goat which is beside the sheperd who sustains them. It is the sheep's bell, its his job to follow it. But what if the cows started to follow the sheep? And the dogs and cats and llamas and orangutangs- there would be a lot of animals doing the wrong things and a lot of things not getting done- at best.

At worst it would lead to conflict, confusion and a lack of progression. Yet, this is exactly what is going on in the human population.

The bell rings and people follow. Exceedingly few question who/what they are following and even fewer get out of line.

Whether it is CNN, Obama, the latest book/craze/fad, their religious leader, the cool kids in high school or Madison Avenue- they just follow.

And they don't look around as they are lead. At the things they pass by, at the options and opportunities ignored- at the alternatives, the forks in the road, the consequences- at those left behind and and those trampled on. They don't look at the covered signs, the turn offs concealed and the side roads unpaved.

Why don't people want to think for themselves? To evaluate and make the call? To gather their own information, make an informed decision? To admit that they don't know?

At the very least- acknowledge the goat and the bell being followed. Acknowledge the blinders, so nicely fitted in the latest style.

And accord others the right to follow their own goat albeit different from yours, or even better- none at all.

It is the lack of doing so that leads to such things as conflict, religious intolerance, human rights abuses, the brain drain, fat stupid kids, the Goldstone Report, ignorant smart people, rich idiots and all the rest of man's ills.

Go ahead, ask the sheep next to you why s/he does what s/he does. They may be hard pressed to answer. Ask yourself- you may be surprised at your own goats.