A Story about Territory, Mindest and yes, a Chicken

Many years ago, an elderly Arab gentleman told me a story about territory, mindest and chicken. It goes something like this:

Once there lived 2 tribes in a desert. One day a chicken went missing from one of the tribes (let's call it tribe A). Someone had seen a member from the other tribe (say, tribe B) steal it. The old man of tribe A said "they stole our chicken; we need to attack and finish off tribe B". His educated, modern sons laughed and said, "father, for god's sake, it's just a chicken!". The old man said, “you will regret this. I still think we need to attack and finish off tribe B".

Sometime later, a few goats were stolen. Again the old man tried to get his sons to attack and said "it is all about the chicken. You should have listened to me then", but they laughed it off saying, "we have too many goats anyway, let them take a few, no matter - and for god's sake, forget that chicken!"

Then one fine day, tribe B attacked suddenly, took over the only water source and also carried off a couple of women who were wives of the old man's sons. The sons, now shaken, rushed to the old man for advice and he said, "See, I told you, it all started with the chicken. Let this be a lesson. Never let the chicken get away".

My story-teller had said that this was what the 'never again' tribal mindset was all about. To strike hard and brutally at the very first sign.

This world view is completely opposite the ideal which sometimes leads courts in the West to punish a house owner for having used "excessive force" to rid his house of a burglar or even instances where an intruder may actually sue a home owner for having shot him.

In a world where ideals collide, how can we find the right balance?