To begin with, let me say that I am a huge Looney Tunes fan. Saturday morning, growing up, a bowl of cereal sitting in front of the TV. One solid hour of pure, free, clean comedy. The funny thing is that now as an adult, you realize how much of an adult overtone the cartoons had. Every once in a while, I’ll see one again, and I find them as funny, if not funnier than when I was a kid. I enjoyed the main characters, Buggs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Wile E. Coyote, and the Tasmanian Devil. In some way or another, I can identify with each of their personalities.

So, for today’s blog, a Looney Tunes Thanksgiving leadership theme…

For those who can remember, these episodes were called Merrie Melodies. One of the episodes was Holiday for Drumsticks, starring Daffy Duck.  If you have time for a 6:42 laugh, click to watch, Holiday for Drumsticks – Daffy Duck

Here’s the plot synopsis (taken from fandom.com)…

A hillbilly husband brings home a turkey. After shooting back at their feuding neighbor, the wife prepares some food to fatten up the turkey for Thanksgiving. The turkey is thrown into the animal pen. Daffy Duck, who happens to be one of the farm animals, is jealous of all of the food that the turkey is receiving. Once he sees a feast for the turkey, Daffy rushes to the turkey and tells him to stop eating. Daffy explains that the hillbillies want to fatten up the turkey then eat him, so Daffy says that the turkey should reduce his weight so the hillbillies won’t eat the skinny turkey.

In a montage, the turkey exercises day by day, while Daffy eats up the entire feast that was supposed to be for the turkey. On Thanksgiving Day, the turkey is now extremely slim, while Daffy is fat. Pa finds the turkey and states that it’s too bony for him to eat. However, the tables turn when Daffy brags that he is a healthy duck himself and that the hillbillies can’t eat duck for Thanksgiving. Pa finds Daffy a suitable alternative and attempts to axe and shoot him. Daffy frantically tries to lose his weight, but he nearly gets shot in all attempts. Daffy begs the turkey to save him, and the turkey hides him in various areas, before admitting that Daffy can’t be saved aside from moving to a country that doesn’t celebrate Thanksgiving. The turkey tells Daffy to take an airplane to Rio de Janeiro, which is a trick to get Daffy into the oven. However, the hillbillies are unable to cook Daffy, as Daffy keeps blowing the matches out.

So, where’s the leadership, you might be asking? How many times have we tried to help others, and it backfired? How often have we, like Daffy Duck, found ourselves having to constantly blow out the match? But… did Daffy Duck know what he was doing? The turkey even tried to trick Daffy in the end. Go figure…

Sometimes it’s a no-win situation. We have all been there before. I’m all about helping others; we should be. It should be in our nature as servant-leaders. I figure if we just do right by people, trust our instincts, and, as my grandfather said, “Make the most of whatever comes, and the least of whatever goes,” then our leadership will turn out alright. Even when it backfires…

Now, go enjoy your Thanksgiving Season with turkey or duck… Next week will be our annual Thanksgiving Thoughts.

Let’s go fight the good fight of leadership. Someone has to…

Go be a great educator and leader today… Our future needs it…

Remember… Think Leadership and Be For Others…

©2022 J Clay Norton

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