In praise of wimps
Enough already of alpha males, managers, team leaders, committee chairwomen, gurus, captains, advisers, consultants and positive thinkers leading us all up the garden path.
There are too many aspirational chiefs paid too much money, and too few Indians. There’s too many bullying-cooks in the kitchen claiming credit for all of a restaurant’s stars, too little recognition of kitchen hands or dishwashers who make the stars shine.
I’m told that in the biblical beatitudes there’s a promise that the ‘Meek shall inherit the earth’. I can’t see that happening anytime soon.
There’s too much scoffing at the idea of anyone with a meek attitude inheriting anything of value. For example, writers James Joyce and William Blake condemned the meek philosophy, for advocating a “life without striving”.
I reckon its time for power-hoarders at the head table and those sitting on thrones on the top floor to share a balance of their powers. Time the silent majority were given a fair go.
With that in mind, I’d like to say a word or two in favour of the meek and mild amongst us. I’d especially ike to say a special word or two in favour of a particular branch of the meek – the wimps.
I don’t know how or why the word ‘wimp’ came to be a derogatory term. It is generally thrown about by some bully, as an insult to suggest an unmanly person.
But in a fair world a wimp is a soft spoken, generally conservative person who doesn’t rise to the bait of being dared to do stupid stuff. A Barney Rubble, rather than a Fred Flintstone.
A wimp is someone who might sit on the fence, seeing green grass on both sides. A wimp might own a small dog, or wear zinc cream in the sun. A wimp won’t cheat when playing. A wimp might simply be shy. A wimp is someone who takes her turn in a queue, rather than shoulder her way to the front of the line. Wimps might be found short on adrenaline, but that won’t stop them be heroes in necessary.
I didn’t find where the word was first used, but last century a couple of famous characters were Wimps with a capital.
J. Wellington Wimpy, generally referred to as Wimpy, was a character in the long-running comic strip Popeye, He was meek, peaceful, and a staunch friend to the Popeye family. This Wimpy really liked hamburgers, wore a bowler hat, and usually had gravy stains on his tie. He was my favourite character in the comic, and I hoped that I would grow up to be just like him.
Well before I was old enough to listen to old time radio, there was a popular comedy program called Fibber McGee and Molly. Sometimes I got to hear later episodes in Australia
One enduring character was Wallace Wimple, nicknamed “Wimp” by McGee. Wimple was a timid birdwatcher, who lived in constant terror of his “big old wife” named “Sweetie Face”
WIMPS also stands for “Where Is My Public Servant”, a project for little people with big ideas. It is a project run by and for young people. Iin particular it is to help young people to influence decision-makers.
In today’s creative science and technology fields, there’s a lot of important wimps.
In space there are the super physics heroes, Weakly Interactive Massive Particles, known as “Dark Matter”
Wimps were responsible for making computers accessible to non-technical people, in the late 1980s, with four contraptions called Windows, Icons, Menus and Pointers
Who knows what can be achieved for the prestige of wimps. if we can =together= bring wimps back into popular favour, we might see the annual tennis tournament in London renamed as Wimpeldon