I was told a story the other day. The plot is this: a cold, damp garage on the outskirts. A twenty-eight-year-old guy named Max clatters a wrench into the corner. He's been fixing some half-dead pickup truck for the front for the third day. His arms are beaten, his back aches. And then he does what we all do when we have a free minute – he opens the news feed.
And there, as usual, is a parallel universe. Someone stole millions again, someone parks a new sports car near a restaurant in the center, someone writes in the comments under his own volunteer meeting that “the state should do all this.”
The guy is hiding. He is shaking with rage. He shouts to his partner, sixty-year-old auto mechanic Slavik, that he hates all this. That he sees no point in tearing lives apart while half the country doesn't care.
I listened to it and found myself thinking that I understood it perfectly. That state when you look at your smartphone screen and feel a thick, black, toxic tar boiling inside.
Vanilla Indians and real predators
Then Slavik pours him strong black tea from a thermos and asks: “Have you heard the tale about the old Indian and the two wolves?”
If I were Max, I would roll my eyes too. Seriously? These quotes from public forums ten years ago about “everyone has a good and bad wolf inside them, and the one you feed wins”? I've always hated this parable. It smacks of cheap esotericism.
But the old mechanic wasn't so simple. He explained something to the boy that made me a little embarrassed.
Those who repost this parable have never seen wolves. A black wolf is not absolute evil. It is rage, resentment, and a sense of total injustice. It is a reaction to a sick world. Without this aggression, you simply will not survive, you will become food. The problem is not that there is a wolf. The problem is that we voluntarily feed ourselves to it.
I opened the news about corruption – threw a piece of meat. I started to argue in the comments – gave another one. I started to get excited about someone else's life on Instagram – and he's already eating out of your hands. The wolf is growing. He's running out of corrupt people, he starts to eat your loved ones, your nerves and eventually – you yourself. Healthy anger turns into bilious cynicism.
What to feed a white
I always thought that the “white wolf” from this fairy tale was a fluffy little dog. All forgiveness, meditation, and acceptance. But the old man with the thermos put everything in its place.
The white wolf is not about rose-colored glasses. It is discipline. It is the ability to do your boring, difficult, invisible work when everything inside is screaming with fatigue and disgust. His food is to tighten the nut on the cardan shaft. To transfer a few hryvnias when you yourself are counting towards your salary. To get up in the morning and go to work.
The black wolf shouldn't be killed, it should be chained up – let it growl at those it needs to. But it's worth feeding the white one, because it's the only one pulling this sled.
The story ended with Max picking up his key and crawling under the bed of the pickup truck. He didn't become happier in that moment, he didn't become enlightened. He simply chose action over hysteria.
I would like to end this text with some beautiful phrase about how we should all hold hands and look to a bright future. But I am too old and lazy for this pathos. I will simply open a blank document and start writing another text. Because this is my nut, my cardan shaft for today.
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To continue to hunch over or to send everything to hell: does your self-sacrifice make sense while the “elite” is openly getting fat?
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🛠️ We work despite everything! 🔥 Stop being patient! 🌫️ I'm already burned out
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🛠️ We work despite everything! 68% 🔥 Enough being patient! 11% 🌫️ I'm already burned out 19%
Comments
First the new ones ↕ Bearded Pike 🛠️ We work despite everything! 05/19/2026 14:23 Thank you, Mr. Valery, for your profound thought. Until recently, reading articles on this tabloid almost every day (mostly, just to avoid reading “food for the black wolf”), I perceived them only as content. But they are written by people – people just like me. Therefore, if I learned something useful from reading an article, I consider it necessary to thank you, a specific person, for your work. Thank you very much – you work for a reason 👍 10 + Reply Rubber Gryphon 🛠️ We work despite everything! 05/22/2026 10:26 Work saves me from everything that drives me crazy and annoys me. I dive headfirst into it and even feel happy. Because here I am a pro, here I know and can do it. And let the whole world wait – I am very lucky to have a job I love! 👍 2 + Reply Mazany from Twitter 🛠️ We work despite everything! 05/20/2026 15:29 War is work. + Reply Cvyakh from Poznyaki 🔥 Stop being patient! 05/22/2026 18:48 The rich are looking for the poor, and the poor are looking for the stupid! + Reply Legendary Stone 🛠️ We work despite everything! 05/22/2026 05:08 Interesting, there is a topic for reflection + Reply Night Jedi 🛠️ We work despite everything! 05/19/2026 20:42 If not us, then who? + Reply Mustache from Khortytsia 🛠️ We work despite everything! 05/22/2026 18:50 Thank you ….thank you + Reply Surprised by the laundry 🔥 Stop being patient! 05/22/2026 19:57 The wolf needs to be brought down on corrupt officials + Reply