The Story of the Wild Boar and How We Choose Our Role Models in Life

As a child I loved reading all kinds of stories with a moral, and I even kept a little notebook where I'd jot down the lessons from the end of each book. Even now, as an adult, stories still seem to stick with me more easily — especially the stories of the people I work with or interact with.

In the end, each of our lives is a story. But who actually writes that story, and what are the models some of us use to write the pages of our lives?

We often say that we do only what we want, but we forget that we're actually the sum of the people we've interacted with along our path in life. What's more, we've picked up models from them — both positive and negative.

Below you'll find an example that made my day a little brighter, and which I hope will inspire you in choosing your own life models:

"A hunter had spent the entire day tracking game through the jungle without success. He felt frustrated by his failure and embarrassed at the thought of returning to the village empty-handed. At one point he reached the edge of a clearing where a wild boar lay with a broken leg.

"Well then," the hunter thought, "an easy target." But something made him hesitate. On one hand, he was thrilled at the prospect of such an easy catch. He would surely be welcomed warmly in the village if he brought back such a large trophy. On the other hand, he felt sorry for the animal.

While he stood at the edge of the jungle weighing his options, a lioness entered the clearing. At first he thought she too was after the boar. Again he felt torn. Could the lioness sense his presence and attack him? Should he shoot her — but what if his arrow didn't strike true and only wounded her?

Perhaps, he thought, he should stay still and hope she'd focus her attention on the boar.

Watching her in silence, he noticed the lioness was carrying fresh prey in her mouth. What happened next caught the hunter by surprise. The lioness let the piece of meat drop in front of the boar. She ate what she needed, then pushed the rest toward the wounded boar. Once he began eating, she calmly walked away.

The hunter, moved by this generosity, couldn't bring himself to kill the animal, and returned to the village empty-handed. The next day, curiosity got the better of him, and his steps led him back to the clearing.

Once again he witnessed the lioness's incredible care as she brought food to the wounded boar.

And so he came to a conclusion: nature takes care of everything. Why work so hard trying to feed himself and his extended family? The universe always provides for those in need. So he decided to imitate the very creature that could have been his prey.

He chose to stay alone in the jungle, picking a clearing where he would wait. Days went by and nothing happened. No lioness, no other animal came to bring him food. He grew hungrier and hungrier, yet he kept waiting, firm in his belief that the universe would look after him just as it had looked after the wild boar.

The longer he waited, the weaker he became, until eventually he was too weak to move. On the verge of death, he heard a noise and thought his rescue had finally arrived.

A limping boar appeared in the clearing. The hunter recognized it as the same boar the lioness had once fed.

"What are you doing here, lying so weak and starving?" the boar asked.

The hunter answered:

"I saw the lioness bringing you food when you were weak and sick. Like you, I'm waiting for the universe to provide help."

"You foolish man!" the boar burst out laughing. "You've chosen the wrong model to imitate — one who was suffering. Don't expect the world to come to you. If you want a better model to follow, you should have chosen the lioness."

We often unconsciously choose certain models to follow. I saw this for myself one day when I looked at my own life and realized all I did was complain about not being happy, blaming everyone and everything around me, without ever asking myself what I was doing about it, or whether there might be other solutions, other options.

So take a look at your story so far, and if you don't like what you see, look at what you can change and what the new role you want to take on actually requires.

As for the model you want to live your life by, I recommend doing it consciously, and spending as much time as you can with the people you actually have something to learn from.

On the same topic, I also recommend the article The Quality of Your Life Is Shaped by the Quality of Your Relationships

In closing, I'll ask you:

What models do you follow, and how do you choose them? If you have examples of what to do and what not to do, share them in the comments so we can all learn from one another.

With a hug,

Raluca