The Story of the Herd...

There was the Herd. It calmly grazed as it always had.

A Rancher road over the hill and into their valley one day. He had many cattle prods and some branding irons from driving cattle. He tried to lead the Herd over the hill to where green pastures and clean still waters were. But the Herd was hard to herd! He poked and prodded but the Herd just mooed loudly about it.

Then uneasy, they mooed to each other, "Moo." "Moo, moo?" "Moooo."

When translated this means,"Sniff my butt."

"Does it stink?"

"Nooo."

So the Herd just kept sniffing each others butts and going in circles. But the Rancher saw a big cow, it had calves sucking its teats for milk! So he figured, "Hmmm, if I get the big cow maybe all the calves will follow." So he took out a brand and put it in the fire, its symbol was a cross. He got it white hot. Then, sizzzzle....right on the big cow's butt! "MOOOOO!" Which, when translated means, "OUCH!"

The big cow ran around in circles for a bit after this. The calves ran after it trying to get hooked up with a teat again for more sweet, sweet milk of the teat. But the big cow stayed in the valley it was in. So the Herd did too, just as they always had.

The Rancher thought, "Maybe it will be a holy cow one day." He chuckled, "Sure was a mad cow then, though..."

The Herd had settled back down to chew its cud. But it chewed its own crud, crud that was all in the mud. For the valley it was in was not green, it was a valley in the shadow of death.

"The European disguises himself with morality because he has become a sick, sickly, crippled animal that has good reasons for being "tame," for he is almost an abortion, scarce half made up, weak, awkward...It is not the ferocity of the beast of prey that requires a moral disguise but the herd animal with its profound mediocrity, timidity, and boredom with itself."
--Nietzsche