Llama theory

A one-l-lama, that's a priest

A two-l-llama, that's a beast

But I will bet a silk pajama

that you won't find a three-l-lllama.

Alright, the poem doesn't really have anything to do with this post, other than to clarify that this is a two-l-llama we're talking about. The beast.

See, I remember when my neighbors down the road had a bunch of sheep. Sheep are a little stupid and vulnerable to a lot of things, including dogs and coyotes. But the neighbors heard that a llama can protect a herd of sheep. So they bought a llama.

Well, due to circumstances with the folks they bought the llama from, they ended up with more than one llama. But unfortunately, while one llama will protect a herd of sheep, two llamas form their own herd and leave the sheep to defend themselves.

One llama? Runs with the sheep. Two or more llamas? New herd. And people do the same thing.

On our own, we hang out people who are different from us, but give us someone similar and we gravitate towards them, creating our own herd. This is a common struggle when living overseas-- we want to work with the local people, but we also have a team, a herd of our own. We have people who think similarly, who believe similarly, who share a mother tongue with us. It's a comfortable place to hang out. But I have to daily break out of the herd and hang with a different herd. It's less comfortable, but it's what I'm there for.

Can you break out of your herd to reach out to others? In what way are you hanging with your herd instead of breaking away? Do you need to leave your comfort zone too?