Daily Gratitude List 1.25.23
The One Thousand Deaths of Wile E. Coyote (continued)
I’m grateful for a brilliant orange sunrise and the reflections all around. I’m grateful for food delivery, especially in NY. I’m grateful for seeing that some things never really were. I’m grateful for being able to see that the stories I told myself were stories. I’m grateful to have found the path out. I’m grateful to be sober today.
The One Thousand Deaths of Wile E. Coyote (continued)
Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once. Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2
I just want to say that I’m not exactly sure how many times Wile E. Coyote actually died.1 If you paid attention to the words of Chuck Jones, the Coyote’s injuries were more ego-related than anything else. And that’s obviously at the bottom of WEC’s woes: the Road Runner went from snack to obsession. I know it’s the desert and the food supply is not exactly plentiful; but there has to be more than that one very fast, very lucky Road Runner to eat. There’d better be a Plan B, because here’s the scoop, WEC: You’re probably not going to ever catch the Road Runner.
Of course, no one takes that advice the first time. In AA, this is often referred to as “doing research.” In my case, I had known I was an alcoholic since I was eighteen years old. When I saw WEC clinging to the bottom of the boulder on the way towards the canyon floor, that’s how things had already felt for a long time. I knew what was coming thanks to WEC.2
The more I think about it, Wile E. Coyote would be a brilliant choice as an AA mascot.3 He's clearly developed a tremendously unhealthy obsession that has taken over his life, he's got a magnificent, alcoholic-sized ego that won't permit him to admit defeat and he possesses the unshakeable belief that things will be different this time. If WEC were an alcoholic (and assuming alcoholic coyotes share some common traits with the human varieties), he would definitely be a big-time relapser. You shake your head every time WEC gets anywhere close to a rocket or lights a fuse that leads to some explosive device: We all know exactly what is going to happen. I think WEC does, too. But he just can't stop.
Chuck Jones, the creator of Wile E. Coyote, formulated brilliant rules for him. We discussed Rule No. 3 yesterday (The Coyote could stop anytime, if he could, but he can’t). Another rule for Wile E. Coyote was that gravity had to be the real culprit in most of his injuries. We alcoholics are not great with the concept of gravity. Speaking for myself, I stepped off the edge of the cliff about a thousand times and was surprised every single time I hit the ground. We somehow convince ourselves that things are not going to turn out the same way they did the last 999 times; WEC is either the most optimistic coyote who ever lived (?) or the most deluded.
Here’s another thing that never worked for the Coyote: Trying to paint a mural that would trick the Road Runner. Those murals depicted a road that didn’t exist and it never worked, the Road Runner never slowed up or changed direction as he powered through the huge, realistic painting; but when WEC went to investigate, well, he fell down the canyon he had drawn or worse, was hit by a speeding truck driving the other direction on the road he had just created. And seriously, you know the AA sayings about how resentments and what not poison us, not the person we direct them at? Isn’t this a much better, more direct illustration of that concept?
The central tragedy of WEC is his obsession with an uncatchable bird. I’m not a big fan of the Fritz Freleng-produced Road Runner episodes of the middle-60’s. They are a little Pink Panther-y for my taste and the music goes from Shostakovich/Prokofiev-like modernist to cheesy French TV tunes. But there is much more of WEC’s interior monologue on display. You get a sense for his deeply-seated insecurities, his fearfulness as he waits for the next shoe to drop (or himself!), the utter resignation when things turn out exactly the way they did the last 10 times he tried to get the Road Runner to eat explosive or magnetic birdseed. In the cleverly titled “Boulder Wham!” episode, well you can see how Sartre might have drawn the Coyote, or been drawn to the Coyote.4
I laugh at the repetition of the Coyote’s never-changing fate. But I know that joke wasn’t nearly as funny during the ten years I was trying to get sober and failing every single time. I’m not sure that Wile E. Coyote is a great example of self-awareness or personal growth, but he’s a pretty good poster-coyote for the idea that a relentlessly-pursued obsession can be pretty damaging. There are a number of other lessons I think can be drawn from the many deaths of Wile E. Coyote.
Don’t get me wrong. I laugh every single time I watch a Road Runner cartoon and yes, I’m 60 years old. I love the Coyote and maybe he was a symbol of my active alcoholism, the zillions of relapses and the zillions of crazy, unsuccessful efforts to get sober. The sameness of the Coyote’s failures really hits home with me. But there’s another way to look at it: The Coyote showed up every single, f****** day knowing he was going to take a real beating. He burned up, blew up, was rocketed into space, landed in China once, had trucks and trains run over him, was electrocuted and flattened, and he fell all the way down to that canyon floor a lot.5
I know something about that trip and the empty thud at the bottom. Wile E. Coyote always got up again, dusted himself off, went back to the Acme website and set out to try again. And that may be a pretty good example for my own recovery. Just when everyone had pretty much given up, this time the edge of the cliff held and it's been a while since I've seen that canyon floor or heard that whistling sound in my ears.
I came here today to praise Wile E. Coyote, not to bury him. My spirit animal is a little worse for the wear (and the thousands of horrible deaths and crushing-type injuries), but he’s dedicated, resourceful, innovative and has a sense for the ironic. Say what you want about his methods, and he’s probably kind of insane, but the Coyote never f****** quits and I think that’s what I really admire most about him.
Thanks for Letting Me Share
If you’re looking for Part I: The One Thousand Deaths of Wile E. Coyote (Part I)
Among the teachings of WEC: “There’s always another rock on the way down.”
I feel like we need one. Also, we could definitely use a secret handshake and AA nicknames, too.
The Coyote is definitely more Tantalus than Sisyphus.
See the teaching about “What goes up.”
Such wonderful writing. I’m saving both parts of this story to read again (and again and again....). You make so many wonderful points which are eminently transferable across a number of life scenarios. Seriously, thank you. 🙏