It seems I owe you an apology. Apparently, there are times when I have been feeding the wrong wolf. I knew I was feeding the birds (and inadvertently the squirrels and chipmunks), but I didn’t know about the wolf until I went to see “Tomorrowland.” I didn’t go seeking such wisdom. I just wanted to see George Clooney, who, as far as I can tell, is a good wolf.
The movie revolves around a parable: “There are two wolves who are always fighting. One is darkness and despair. The other is light and hope. The question is which wolf wins? THE ONE YOU FEED.”
Now, I have never been one for denying food to any creature, but I agree with the premise that, if we fill our minds with fearful, disparaging thoughts, it makes it difficult to bring forth kindness and caring.
I was still thinking about the wolves when I turned on the TV that night. Out of the 857 choices available to me at 7 p.m. (Harold has opted for the Premium Ultra Deluxe Second-Mortgage Cable Package), most were movies about serial killers and police dramas where people just get killed one at a time.
The Food Channel, my safety standard, was airing a soufflé challenge where the contestants had to use three ingredients and one of them was squid. Not only that, but one poor guy apparently had lost last week’s challenge (cream puffs with mackerel) and had to whip up his creation while straddling a tank of piranha. Maybe I’m getting my shows mixed up, (I click over to Animal Planet from time to time) but it doesn’t matter if you’re cooking or singing or going through an obstacle course on an island with a bunch of ill-groomed strangers, mean-spirited is mean-spirited.
Where to turn…literally? The political talk shows always disintegrate into shouting matches, the Golf Channel follows Tiger Woods primarily to see him disintegrate, and in the last Mickey Mouse cartoon I saw, a retro Mickey was hitting someone over the head with a mallet.
These are not good wolves.
We say we want to be happy. We included that in the Declaration of Independence for goodness sakes, and yet we feed ourselves all this schlocky fear. Why?
Again, I’m not one to withhold food from any animal, but it’s only a metaphoric wolf and I think Big Bad has had enough already. We need to feed our “you can do it” wolf, the one who at least sets out to make the world a better place.
I was encouraged to see that the new fall TV lineup is bringing back the Muppets, so things may be improving already, but if the show gets cancelled or if Fozzie starts hitting Kermit over the head with a mallet, I’m striking out on my own: Big Good Wolf TV. Doesn’t that sound, I don’t know, encouraging? It wouldn’t have to be sappy. I’m not talking about 24 hours of puppies licking the faces of laughing children, although a little of that would be good, just stuff about real people trying to do good things.
We could talk politics, sure, but how about we channel Will Rogers and spend our time gently pointing out the absurdities on both sides of the ball? (We’re going to need a really big ball this year.)
So, stay tuned. If Oprah can have her own network, I don’t see any reason why I shouldn’t. My accountant might have a few concerns, but deep down, he’s a good wolf, too, and he’ll come around. Big Good Wolf TV. Thanks, George Clooney.
