Letters to the Editor
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Kerianfree
I enjoyed your letter. It's couched to some extent in terms that I don't identify with, but your basic stance in life is pretty much what I have been arriving at as well (in early middle age). Play my part, play it as well as I can, and leave the rest to those to whom it falls. Life actually seems bigger that way.
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Uh, Kerianfree
Don't look now, but your rambling navel-gazing was all about you.
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recycled jokes
Nice. It's a recycled Outland punchline.
I guess it's not plagiarism if you steal from yourself.
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true
we are all at the center of the universe.
the farthest galaxy is also at the center of the universe.
the center is everwhere and everything.
there are an infinite number of universes and centers.
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Kierenfree
Breaking it down for you:
"Wow -- I found this to be one of the most beautiful Opus comic strips I've ever seen, and one that did a magnificent job of giving a graphic sense of the awesomeness of Creation."
Glad to know that you had an epiphany. I guess up until now you never cracked a book about astronomy. You never heard of Carl Sagan. You never looked through a telescope or laid on your back looking into the night sky with binoculars. Now I know why Bad Breathed exists: To reach a subgroup of Americans who are otherwise dumb as rocks. It takes a colorful cartoon to awaken them to the mysteries of the universe.
"The letter writers ahead of me have made it clear that the punchline was appropos, for they completely missed the point. In their pettiness, they proved that, in facing such an amazing Universe, many of us retreat into our own small egos."
Well, for a guy who has found enlightenment, you sure do look down your nose at others, don't you? Pettiness? Hello? Just because you've suddenly discovered something for the first time (and through a comic strip no less) doesn't mean that others, millions of others actually, have not gone there before you. And you have the gall to insinuate that because they don't go ga-ga over a simplistic overview of cosmology that they have missed the point and that they are petty. Look in a mirror, bud.
"We must all answer for ourselves certain basic questions: Are our lives a series of random events, without any meaning or intelligence behind them?"
Or not.
"Here in the thick of my middle age, I am beginning, for the first time in my life, to truly feel that it isn't "all about me" -- that I am happier, and my life goes better, when I accept that I am God's instrument,"
Yes. You are indeed a tool. And I'm wondering how you got to the thickness of middle age (whatever that is) and never pondered any of this before.
"I'm starting to feel -- and trust me, this feels really really strange to see myself writing this -- but I'm actually starting to feel that God loves me."
It's always about you, isn't it? Well, while you are reveling in that smugness, take a look at all the human beings that your god has not turned his love on. Doesn't that make you feel extra special?
"Maybe when the testosterone level drops, and the wind gets knocked out of you six or seven times, and you look around at the rubble of what you thought you wanted or expected out of life and you see that what's left are a ragtag bunch of people you're supposed to love and a job you're supposed to do, you give in, you give up, you face how much you fucked up and you
move forward, noticing that the Big Guy (or Gal, or Whatever) is looking over your shoulder and .... smiling."
Man! You say you are "middle aged" and unhappy, you didn't get what you expected out of life, you think the people in your life are "ragtag" that you love out of supposed obligation? Oh, you are a joy to be around, I'm sure.
But don't worry, you've invented a "Big Guy (or Gal, or Whatever) to look over your shoulder and justify everything you do. Not that you would assign that responsibility elsewhere, say like, to yourself where it belongs.
"I have no way of concluding this letter except to say that perhaps I will print this comic strip from Opus, hang it in my cubicle and reflect ..."
Pin the Opus cartoon right over there, next to the poster of the terrified-looking kitty cat clawing to hold onto a rope with the caption, "Hang in there Baby!"
So profound. The entire collected works of philosophers since the beginning of the written word might as well be asswipe because Berkeley Breathed and Hallmark Cards has synthesized it and handed it to you wrapped up like a double cheese whopper.
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If triangles had a god
It would have 3 sides.
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Gary Owens, why so bitter toward Breathed?
Although I would hazard a guess that you're bitter all around, your hatred of Breathed is over the top. Have you even considered therapy?
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Gary Owen
Lighten up man! It's a cartoon.
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Garry Owen
Year Grown
Year WrongAngry Wore
Grayer NowGray Owner
Aery WrongYawn Roger
Rage On Wry -
Good wall decor
I do believe I'd like a poster of this particular strip.
Well done, Berkeley. One of the best Opus strips thus far.
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Oh, Garry (et alia)
It's not just a cartoon, people. It's a pretext for attacking others. When we restrained ourselves earlier (e.g., did not respond contest Locutus' charge that Breathed plagiarized Carl Sagan, the First Person Ever to Note the Vastness of the Universe), he must have nearly gone mad with frustration. He needs to be attacked so he can justify attacking in return; that's his notion of "fair." Eventually, though, lacking such justification he will simply go on the offense without provocation--thus leading to a collective whatthefuck--because he's just gotta get his mad on (and on and on--say what you will, the dude can type really fast and get them long-ass letters out there).
I.e.: classic bullying behavior.
Again, Garry: Blah blah blah blah.
Now, "get in touch with the editors." (Or do you wait till you run into a kid on the playground who is as much a thug as you before you go crying to teacher?)