We used to go to an outdoor ice cream parlor in Bibone, Italy every summer. This parlor had a large covered, outdoor patio area with lots of tables and chairs. At one end of this area was a large screen television that played cartoons every evening. It was hard to get a table or seat in that area in the evening, because kids of all ages (3 to 90) would buy ice cream and sit around for hours watching the coyote pummel himself with the stones that he had sent to crush the roadrunner. People would laugh until there were tears running down their cheeks. It didn’t matter if they were Italian, German, Austrian, Dutch, Japanese, American, Hungarian, or Serbian, they all joined in the laughter. Why was that cartoon so funny?
I think that it was funny because it so well depicts human nature. Sometimes people throw stones at others in order to keep the attention and examination off of themselves. Sometimes they are vindictive and really want to hurt others. It seems that most humans secretly like to see those who purposely try to hurt others, get their just desserts in the end. There is a sense of justice, after all, in self-initiated retribution. It is even more ironic when the payback comes from the exact stones they threw or rolled attempting to hurt others.
I also like The Roadrunner cartoons for another reason. I like them because they so clearly illustrate one of my favorite proverbs in the Bible. Proverbs 26:27 (NLT) says: “If you set a trap for others, you will get caught in it yourself. If you roll a boulder down on others, it will roll back and crush you.” That truth is at the heart of every Roadrunner cartoon. When we try to set traps for others, they end up springing closed upon us; when we try to undermine others we end up undermining ourselves.
This coyote stone-throwing or stone-rolling theme is one of life’s ironies. A modern American-slang proverb restates this truth. That proverb says, “What goes around, comes around.” Those who give out good will receive back good; those who give out hurt will be hurt in return; and those who attempt to deceive will in the end be deceived.
This theme can be found in many places. One of my favorite Hungarian musical groups is a band named Republic. They sing a song that says something to the effect that whoever throws a stone into the sky will soon discover that the stone has to land somewhere, and it is usually on your own head.
Why are we so slow to learn this lesson? We can laugh at it when we see it portrayed in the actions of the coyote, and even gloat at the stupidity of the coyote. We ask, “How long will it take him to learn that the things we set into motion usually come back upon our own heads? Silly coyote, when will he learn?”
Silly humans, when will we ever learn? Our unkind words hurt others, but will also come back to hurt us. Our actions designed to hurt others, bring reciprocal pain upon us as well. Sabotaging others is in reality sabotaging ourselves. Undermining our country’s leaders, laws and systems hurts us all. We are quick to see the folly of such behavior in cartoon characters, and sometimes in the lives of others. But we are very slow to realize that all too often we are more like the coyote than we want to admit.
So the next time you are tempted to initiate something hurtful, think twice about it, and decide to set something good into motion instead of something hurtful. Others will be better off as a result of the good you send out, and so will you. Indeed, so will we all!
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