World of Wolves...

In my home town of Antrim, Northern Ireland there is the ruins of Antrim Castle, located in the now public park of the Castle Grounds. This was a playground for myself, and many others growing up in Antrim in the background of the troubles. Many, many hours were spent there with mates riding bikes and exploring the ‘cake’ or trying to find the elusive passage ways under the castle - the ones that one of your friends always insisted they had found and explored, yet nobody else could find a way past the iron grid. 

These grounds are steeped in history, and I guess like many, as we got older we learned to appreciate the beauty of them. The opportunity to have such a great space for exploring. 

Perhaps one of the most iconic things about the grounds is the statue of ‘The Massereene Wolfhound’. For those of us who grew up in the 1970’s and 1980’s it used to be located outside the Antrim Forum sports centre on the opposite side of the river to the castle. Yet when you find out it was sculpted circa 1612, it suddenly becomes so much more than a lump of stone that so many of us walked past (or climbed on) on our way to go to the swimming pools or the gym. 

The story behind the sculpture is linked to an incident when a loyal family Irish wolfhound saved the life of Lady Marion Clotworthy from a wolf attack as she was walking from Antrim Castle to the shore of Lough Neagh. Her husband, Sir Hugh Clotworthy commissioned the sculpture in honour of the animal, and for many years until the end of the 18th century it was positioned on the battlements of the castle to ward off any potential invaders, either man or beast. 

I guess for me the significance of this story is about not in those that attack, but instead the strength and the humility of those who can and do defend. 

Anyone, or anything can attack. They can be vicious, nasty, completely focused on destroying someone or something. Whilst that may be difficult to do to anyone of a sound mind, it is easy to lose composure and want to attack for others. Anyone can lash out or fight, in most cases unnecessarily, but in all cases if you are an attacker you are nothing. The person who starts the fight is the unbalanced. 

To me, real strength comes in those who defend. To have the courage to not subdue to those who would be thy enemy, but instead to hold fast to what you care for, for what you hold dear, to those you hold close. That’s real courage. That’s real bravery. 

The wolfhound exemplifies this, it resonates with me about how we should all carry ourselves:

Stand tall and be dignified,

Be gentle, yet be patient,

Be brave and be loyal,

Be a protector, but never the attacker. 

In a world of wolves, be the wolfhound...

Happy Damn Friday Peeps! x

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