I have always had the greatest respect for cartoon characters due to the sheer force of their resiliency. What I would not give to be able to shrug off, without a second thought, the trauma of an anvil dropped on me from several stories high, walking away with only a bewildered look on my face, leaving no permanent injury or scars. Imagine then how immune these toons must be to the cost of gasoline, the onslaught of monthly-incurred bills, constant price increases by the Acme Company (especially if you are a coyote) or the latest news broadcast of doom and gloom. Yes, right next to a body without cellulite, it seems cartoon-like resiliency would be the ultimate state of empowerment, balance, guaranteed happiness, and insulated tranquility (unless, of course, you are a coyote).
Yet it seems that cartoon characters are blessed with this invincible quality because some human being imagined that quality into a frame-by-frame existence. So if Chuck Jones can do it, and Walt Disney can do it... why can't we? Does Wile E. Coyote possess greater powers than the average human being? Can Sponge Bob Square Pants really be more enlightened than you or I? Why is it that we do not focus the lens of our perspective on the same mastery of resiliency that cartoon characters seem to have, and by which they seem to mock our very existence?
The first reason would seem fairly self-evident... cartoon characters do not take themselves nearly as serious as we do. "My stress, my anxiety!" We proclaim it as if it was a divinely guided law that all beings should bow down before. Second, cartoon characters are not invested in defining themselves by their state of limitation. Porky Pig has never defined himself as a being a speech impediment. Yosemite Sam has never pigeonholed himself a rage-a-holic who has no value outside of anger management classes. It never occurred to Sleeping Beauty to limit herself to the label of the "ultimate narcoleptic, sleep dysfunctional Diva." Homer Simpson has never let his history of failure limit his ability to show up for each and every present moment anew. So why is it that we protoplasmatic characters settle for an infinitely more inferior ownership and resiliency of self-value, power and worth?
Cartoon characters easily accept a new life script, something human beings are not always willing to do. Human beings love to cling to some past hurt or restricting memory of themselves, unwilling to embrace a new character storyline about their potential. Cartoon characters only live in the "now" - the present moment. Bugs Bunny shows up as if he had never been hurt before by past memories paralyzing his ability to visualize a greater outcome. (Even when he didn't take that left turn at Albuquerque and missed the Coachella Valley Carrot Festival.) Not once have I witnessed Fred Flintstone hold a grudge against Barney Rubble he could not get past. It seems we have so much to learn from these hand-drawn and computerized personalities.
Maybe cartoon characters are the most realized transcendent teachers of the 21st Century. I have yet to see a cartoon character that is immune to life's challenges and traumas, especially if you are a coyote. Personally, I prefer role models that have had to pull themselves out of the same deep, ugly, painful trenches that I too have had to extricate myself from, minus the Technicolor embellishments.
What I most love about cartoon characters is their natural response to reality as a fluid and flexible state of being. I have yet to see any cartoon characters take reality as seriously as the average human being, or to even claim that they know what reality is. I have also yet to see a cartoon character die from a heart attack, suffer from high blood pressure or find themselves caught up in a paralyzing addiction to CNN or the Home Shopping Network. I have yet to witness a cartoon character ask, "Does this make my butt look big?" Or have a bad hair day that ruined one second of their existence.
Cartoon characters show us that resiliency and unconditional happiness are possible. They do not do this through dogma or emphatically defended doctrine. They do not try to scare us with threats of abandonment by God if we do not do it right. They have no "buy or die" belief systems. They do it by modeling that it is a choice. When faced with a choice between love or fear, cartoon characters will often explore the fear choice, just as we all do. But in the end they are the untarnished beacons shining forth the value of choosing love every time, unless, of course, it is the coyote.
So, while we still live in a world where the news media mercilessly assault their audiences with fear-contaminated messages, where politicians cheat on their wives, betray their families, steal money from their constituents, I am comforted and heartened to know that the cartoon characters of the world are eternally pristine from corruption. I know that Wile E. Coyote always pays his bill at the Acme Company. I know my favorite television show will never be interrupted to bring viewers a special broadcast, then cut to a news conference where Mickey Mouse, flanked by Minnie loyally at his side, has to explain why he was arrested in a cheap motel room with underage rodents and a kilo of Colombian primo "catnip" in his car. Yes, as long as people need to be reminded that they can grow beyond any limitation life throws their way, as long as people require a shining example of a life led by imagining itself beyond the grasp of unhappiness and fear, I feel tremendously comforted to know that the best and finest transcendent teachers are only as far away as the cartoon network. Without them, the Acme Company would surely be in Chapter 11 for selling defective products.