"Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Wile E. Coyote...Genius. I am not selling anything, nor am I working my way through college, so let's get down to cases. You are a rabbit, and I am going to eat you for supper. Now, don't try to get away! I am more muscular, more cunning, faster, and larger than you are and...I'm a genius. Why, you could hardly pass the entrance examinations to kindergarten. So, I'll give you the customary two minutes to say your prayers."What Wile E. Coyote is saying is that since he believes himself to be both intellectually and physically superior to the Road Runner, he sees the issue of 'supper' as pre ordained. It only remains for the prey to surrender and he can then move on to other, more meaningful aspects of his day. Life does not often deliver results in this way. Life must be taken on lifes terms. But that is not to say that we should not approach life with self confidence and self assurance.
In his most recent book, 'Outliers', Malcolm Gladwell details some of the circumstances that lead some individuals to great success and personal wealth. Throughout history only a few people have risen to the top of their chosen professions. These few people have been the recipients of a unique set of life events and opportunities but they have also had tremendous drive, ambition and passion for what they do.
So...who do you picture to be the exact opposite of the upwardly mobile, confident junior executive? I've been reading to my daughters every night for the past several years and it strikes me that the one character in all of the books we have read together that would serve to represent the opposite of Wile E. Coyote is the dull, nearly-silent and depressed character of Mr. Bucket in 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'. This ghostly, chronically fatigued and almost invisible character element to the story toils away alone each day in the worst conceivable dead end job; doing physical labor working as the cap screwer in a toothpaste factory. Mr. Bucket cannot come up with a plan to better himself or to support his family except in the direst poverty because, while he is a character with feelings he has no vision, no energy and no passion in life. Mr. Bucket does not consider himself to be a genius and he probably never has.
Closer to the Warner Brothers theme, another character to consider is Elmer Fudd. Always confused and slow-of-wit, ever the stalwart hunter of "wabbits", Elmer lacks creativity, common sense and cannot conceive of a plan to hunt Bugs Bunny that does not begin and end the same way every time. Elmer Fudd does not consider himself to be a genius. He probably does not even know what a genius is.
Bill Gates, George Lucas, Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Bill Clinton, the Beatles, Richard Branson and many others in our modern era have achieved tremendous wealth, fame and power. Was it all etherial timing, a particular juxtaposition of the stars or a slight nod from God that created these outliers in our society? Or was it supreme belief in themselves and their personal gifts and abilities along with their relentless attention to the possibility of opportunity that brought riches and fame to them.
For Elmer Fudd to have become rich and famous it would have to be because he accidently ended up in the same cartoon as Bugs Bunny who was a true genius.
And that goes double for Daffy Duck!
Ref: The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
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