A Coyote on Rolls Road

Saw something unusual today as I was coming home. My usual path takes me through our residential neighborhood and I was traveling north on Rolls Road when I saw it, standing in between two houses about 15 feet from the road. A coyote, staring nonchalantly at me while I drove past. It was a little smaller than an Irish Setter but had the unmistakable muzzle of a coyote. It had probably wandered up into the neighborhood from Mirror Lake, the large pond that sits at the end of my street.

I've seen foxes, deer and even bald eagles in the neighborhood before, but never a coyote. Our neighborhood is Wonder Years suburban vintage, with a variety of 60s era houses plotted along winding streets that are named after autmobiles (Rolls Road, Continental Drive, Cord Circle, Riviera Drive and Benz Road). It's not exactly a place where one would expect to see anything other than a squirrel or rabbit, but nature has learned to adapt to the urban setting and you see all manner of fauna these days.

It doesn't surprise me that a coyote might live in the neighborhood. They are smart, resourceful animals that will eat whatever they can find. They might prefer a squirrel, but they will raid the garbage if they have to. They find a way to survive.

Sometimes I wonder why we give people less respect for their resourcefulness than we give coyotes. Today was a tough day in the financial markets, with Lehman Brothers filing for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch seeking shelter from my former employer, Bank of America. There was a certain measure of panic in the market, but rationality was ultimately maintained. While it is hard to imagine a world without a firm like Lehman Brothers and I certainly emphatize with those who lost their jobs today, you have to believe that we can adapt to the changes that are afoot. Both of the presidential campaigns were alternatively promising help and casting aspersions about the good will of the other. They need to do that sort of thing right now - it probably won't do to pretend that a hands-off approach is the wisest. But I suspect it is.

We don't know how much rot there is among the major financial firms right now, although we'll eventually find out. But this much is certain - like the coyote on Rolls Road, we'll adapt. We may eat some garbage in the short term, but the hunting will improve.