Villains

We are first introduced to the "villain" role as a child through movies or cartoons. These villains were so far removed from the protagonists life that they could be easily separated and labeled as an outside force whose sole purpose was devoted to making the life of others worse off.

As all lessons we learn as children, the one we learn about villains we may encounter in life is skewed. In fact, most of the people we label as "villains" in our lives are entangled in our every day activities. Often times our villain is our coworker, our boss, a family member, and some times a good friend. And these villains in our life, they don't thrive off the misfortune of us, they don't spend their nights plotting against us (although we might perceive it that way at times).

The part that makes me wonder is the development of the persona of the villain role. For example: when close friends become enemies in a matter of years; suddenly you feel the wrath of a long, drawn out break up from a friend. (It is my personal opinion that when friendships break up its worse than when you break up with a beau.) It's then easy to cope with the split by labeling the other as a villain. Dirt is slung around, gossip is spread, but it's not until you hear rumor from the other accusing you of being their villain until you really get fired up! After all, how can your villain think you are their villain?- the thought will make you laugh, scoff, and turn red with anger.

I turn to the road runner and the coyote for further analysis: Obviously the coyote is the villain. Coyote spends his time and money buying new acme gadgets and plotting to, well, kill the road runner. Why? Is it as simple as a prejudice or a hate crime OR did the road runner do something so horrendous that the coyote needed revenge? And if so is it possible that the coyote feels like the victim, like the road runner is his villain?

Obviously this is an extreme case, if this were real life the coyote would be some deranged psychopath and this story would be more fitting for a Law & Order episode not a Saturday morning cartoon marathon. The point is how scary perception can be when it comes to personal vendettas.

Maybe we should all step back from our preconceived notions of the villains at work in our lives and reevaluate the plausibility of the hate that actually exists. I've been accused of this before and it baffles me why anyone could think I would be working against them. Reality is subject to change, our imaginations can take over the best of us, don't let it.