I died the day the black bull died

Martin Luther King Jr. taught us, “In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.”

There’s an old Arab folktale called the “Legend of the White Bull” that really captures the essence of this idea. In the legend, there were three bulls – white, brown and black – who were brothers and lived together in a forest with their predator, a tiger. Whenever the tiger attempted to attack one of the bulls, the other two would come quickly to his protection.

Eventually, the tiger resolved to change his strategy. He approached the white and brown bulls while the black was away. The tiger convinced the two bulls they’d be better off without the black one: They could split his food portion and would not have the burden of protecting him anymore. The two bulls agreed and asked the tiger what they should do. The tiger told them, “You don’t need to do anything at all. Just don’t come to his aid when the black bull calls to you.”

The next day, the tiger attacked and killed the black bull while his brothers ignored his cries and continued grazing, thinking maybe if they just kept eating, their guilt would be alleviated. Later, the tiger approached the white bull while the brown was away and convinced him to once again stand by and remain silent as he attacked his brother. The white bull agreed – he wanted all the food for himself.

The following day, the white bull heard the dying screams of his brother and just kept grazing along. Later that day, the tiger approached the white bull again. Instantly, he knew his fate and, just as the tiger prepared to pounce, the bull asked for a dying wish. The tiger obliged, and the white bull walked to the top of a hill and shouted to the rest of the forest: “I did not die today. I died the day the black bull died.”

We die when we turn our backs on our friends and neglect the responsibility of supporting and advising them. We die when we become passive – if we see someone in need of our help, but say nothing at all. We die when we see our friends cheating, but don’t offer criticism and pass the buck because it’s “none of our business.”

A couple of weeks ago, I was taking a really difficult exam in one of my classes. About halfway through, a friend of mine caved under all the pressure and gradually stumbled out of the room. It seemed to me that he was going to faint or lose consciousness, but of the 60 people in that room, not a single student got up to help him. Everyone simply looked around at each other – as if waiting for someone else to prompt or cue them to go help out a friend. After a few seconds of interest, all heads were lowered once again, staring at the meaningless exams on the desks while we let a sick student go about his suffering alone.

Our quality of life is determined not by the security of our personal interest, but by the construction of a meaningful community. We need to be willing to speak out and stand up – no matter how weird or awkward it may feel – to build friendships that help us grow as individuals. The next time someone stumbles out during an exam, the entire class needs to get up and help.

Osama Eshera is a junior bioengineering major. He can be reached at eshera@umdbk.com.