Most of the people in our society are sheep. We may be in the most violent times in history but, [in America,] violence is still remarkable rare. This is because most citizens are kind, decent people who are not capable of hurting each other except by accident or under extreme provocation. They are sheep.
I mean nothing negative by calling them sheep. To me it is like the pretty, blue robin's egg. Inside it is soft and gooey but someday it will grow into something wonderful. But the egg cannot survive without it's hard blue shell. Police officers, soldiers and warriors are like that shell, and someday the civilization they protect will grow into something wonderful. For now, though, citizens still need warriors to protect them from predators.
Then there are wolves - and the wolves feed on the sheep without mercy. Do you believe there are wolves out there who will feed on the flock without mercy? You better believe it. There are evil men in this world and they are capable of evil deeds. The moment you forget that or pretend it's not so, you become a sheep. There is no safety in denial.
Then there are sheepdogs. I'm a sheepdog. I live to protect the flock and confront the wolf. If you have no capacity for violence then you are a healthy and productive citizen: a sheep. If you have a capacity for violence and no empathy for your fellow citizens, then you have defined an aggressive sociopath: a wolf. But what if you have a capacity for violence, and a deep love for your fellow citizens? Then you are a sheepdog. You will walk into the heart of darkness, into the universal human phobia, and walk out unscathed. You have chosen the Way of the Warrior.
Let me expand on the model of sheep, wolves and sheepdogs. We know that the sheep live in denial; that is what makes them sheep. They do not want to believe that there is evil in the world. They can accept the fact that fires can happen, which is why they want fire extinguishers, fire sprinklers, fire alarms and fire exist throughout their kids' schools. but many of them are outraged at the idea of putting an armed police officer in their kid's school. Out children are [thousands] of times more likely to be seriously injured, by school violence than by school fires, but the sheep's only response to the possibility of violence is denial. The idea of someone coming to kill or harm their children is just too hard to contemplate; so they choose the path of denial.