Maybe it’s just me, but the Road Runner and Wile E Coyote have been giving us life lessons for decades. Beep beep. So have Porky Pig and Elmer Fudd, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and almost every cartoon character one can think of.
Most of all, they’ve been teaching us resilience, and, no matter how bad things might be, nothing is so insurmountable that it means giving up. Just think of Wile E Coyote.
Their thinking reminds me of the city with the funny name called Hong Kong, my Hong Hong racing photographer friends Wallace and Donald, and, in his own way, the man many of us know as E.B and the CEO of the Hong Hong Jockey Club.
It’s E.B’s Birthday today, and it makes perfect sense that he should have his party at Shatin Racecourse on the biggest day in the Hong Hong racing calendar and surrounded by what he’s truly passionate about.
Despite his frustrations when things don’t go exactly as planned because he’s a perfectionist and cannot tolerate imperfections, well, one becomes a good listener and agrees things were perhaps not nearly fine. We know that he wouldn’t trade any of this for the world.
As for my friends like Wallace Wan and Donald Lee, they travel down a different road by documenting everything happening on course with their cameras and quick thinking and working to make things happen despite various hurdles in the way. It’s part of meeting the challenges head on.
Here’s where the very different worlds of horse racing come together and a one team support system is formed. This shouldn’t be neglected or allowed to get lost by those in the corporate world.
Me? Like music or movies or the thought processes of different women, I write about everything I observe, have learned over the years, and try to make sense of it all.
Sometimes, I get it, many times, everything goes over like airplanes, but in the end, it’s about how, in life, everyone has a role to play in today’s Looney Toons world.
Here’s where we’re constantly trying to make sense of it all. It’s where there are always lessons to be learned and a reminder how we never ever stop learning about and from each other.
It’s about keeping an open mind and realising that if everyone fell in line and did the same same thing every day, this would be Groundhog Day and there’ll be no point getting up. Just let the alarm clock ring and to hell with it all.
This is when resilience magically kicks in along with creativity, motivation and inspiration.
It’s realising the importance of not living and getting lost in the past and making one good thing happen every single day we’re here in the real world.
Happy Birthday, Winfried, and here’s to the best ever Hong Hong International Races. It will be more than nearly fine.
To Wallace and Donald and the others who have enormous pride in their home and understand the importance of having the world class horse racing taking place today in Hong Kong, do what you do best. It’s very much needed and appreciated.
Remember that for those who can’t be at the races, your photographs will take us there and live on after today becomes tomorrow.
It’s not just about horse racing. That would be too easy.
It’s about giving Hong Kong something to cheer about-win, lose or draw.
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