By G.P. Avants, Rudy Rodriguiz, and Ron Avants

 

I don’t know if I have mentioned this in a blog before, but I love Willy Wonka in all his wonkiness. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory was a great book and the movie is on the top of my all time favorite childhood list. There are many moments, musical and non-musical that still bring me to tears.

Gene Wilder was Willy Wonka to the tee. His passing for me was like losing a friend who could always lift my spirits with his unpredictable nature. Like any real person good characters are complicated and have layers of personality. Though many people thought Mr. Wonka totally mad, I emphatically disagree. I think he had some great golden nuggets of wisdom covered in chocolate and wrapped in a distinct purple wrapper.

Here are my top five quotes that are worth mentioning. I think we see Wonka Wisdom is these odd entries.

“Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple.”

Maybe Willy Wonka wasn’t the best mathematician, but he learned to play to his strengths. In his crazy turn on Edison’s quote, Wonka reminds us that being creative and inventive is messy business. Be willing to take a risk, make mistakes, and learn from them. “That’s the sailor’s way.”

 

“A little nonsense now and then is relished by the wisest men. ”

The brain needs to rest, especially those who have an active mind. Sometimes we just need to watch a goofy comedy, or tell a dry joke to beat the stress we are under. Does it make one foolish to not always have all the answer or chew on every thought ? You sure appreciate sleep when your mind doesn’t wakes you up on the middle of the night with processing something from your day.

 

“You should never, never doubt what no one is really sure about. ”

Was Mr. Wonka talking about faith?

There are so many mysteries that the human mind attempts to catalog and classify. To some there is a sense of peace bringing the unknown within our reach. The truth is there are things we just need to accept as unknowable, and be okay with that. Faith can give you a confidence when the facts don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense.

 

“We are the music makers and we are the dreamer of the dreams.”

People who aren’t dreamers love to shoot down people who do. If we let them, the practical, the naysayers can talk us out of those hair-brained ideas. However, those ideas might just be what the world is looking for and we might be the ones who bring them into the light.

 

“So shines a good dead in a weary world.”

I use this one a lot. I see humble Charlie Bucket passing the test, by doing what his heart says us right.

Yes, this was originally taken from a Shakespeare quote, but it is a timeless axiom. As our world gets darker and weary, goodness, even is little seemingly unnoticed acts, are powerful things. That is because these things come from a heart that has been moved by the power of God. The course of history has been changed by God working through things that many consider unimportant.

Like so many creative people, Willy Wonka was sometimes misunderstood. His non-sensical rants and comments didn’t always fall on receptive ears. Yet, those who listened and saw passed the sweet and sour temptations, were a little bit wiser for the world wear.