We will still weep for Wile E. Coyote

On the Cartoon Network website there is a game where you play as Wile E. Coyote and chase the Roadrunner past many obstacles. A few years ago I came across it and wasted almost an entire night trying to catch the Roadrunner. And when I had won the game, I wanted to punch my computer: Instead of catching that blasted Roadrunner there was an animation of Wile E. Coyote failing yet again.

There are no words that exist to adequately describe how much I hate that game and, much more, that Roadrunner. 

Wile E. Coyote and the Roadrunner star in what is possibly the most depressing cartoon that I have ever watched. And I have seen Neon Genesis Evangelion. Wile E. Coyote always fails. It matters not how much he plans, or how much he prepares, or how brilliant his schemes are. He will fail. How adamant this fact is was made clear to me the first time that I saw him use a slingshot. It was meant to propel a rock at the Roadrunner but when released it remained as it was, taut and suspended. Wile E. Coyote stood in front of it to inspect the problem. Then it released. 

The very laws of physics work against Wile E. Coyote. But he can't do anything else but pursue the Roadrunner. 

To me, Wile E. Coyote is a potent metaphor for fallen man, and the Roadrunner that he pursues is "lasting happiness." He can't get it, no matter what he tries to do. As the slingshot incident proved to me, fallen man is physically incapable of catching his Roadrunner without outside assistance. As fallen humans we are like a man who swims against the flow of a river and wonders why he makes no progress and comes up against such opposition. 

We must rely on the grace of God to redeem us from death and provide a way for our natures to become higher-minded than they are. On our own we can do nothing for ourselves, any more than a blind can see for themselves or the deaf hear. 

In the meantime, I await the day when someone will intercede on Wile E. Coyote's behalf, and make possible his lasting happiness just as surely as the Atonement of Jesus Christ made possible ours.