#3 / Pearls Before Swine

 

 

I am quite a fan of one-time lawyer, now cartoonist, Stephan Pastis. Pastis, who has cartooned his own picture, above, writes the comic strip, "Pearls Before Swine." For my birthday, back in December, my brother and sister-in-law gave me a book of his early cartoons, Sgt. Piggy's Lonely Hearts Club Comic. 

Some of the cartoons in that book are so hysterically funny that I couldn't stop laughing. But Pastis does address some somber and substantive matters, too. 

For instance, anyone who has read many of these blog postings of mine will recall my frequent mention of George Fox, the first Quaker, and this piece of advice: 

Ye have no time but this present time, therefore prize your time, for your soul’s sake.

Here is how Pastis' main character, Rat, reacts to this important truth about our human existence: 

In one of my recent postings referencing the George Fox quote, I cited Bob Dylan, who had a different formulation, but who pretty much conveyed the same sentiment as both George Fox and Rat. Here is how Dylan put it: 

It’s now or never, more than ever.

 

For today's blog posting, though, let's allow Rat to have the final word. It takes two out of the three panels in the comic for Rat to get that last word out:

 

 

Here's what I'm thinking. We have this New Year starting. We have only this present moment, and it's now or never, more than ever. This moment - right now - is that brief little nanosecond of time in which we can actually do something that we know we ought to do. Let's not try to fool ourselves that there is nothing we can do. We can each do something, and we know it. Most of us even know what it is. All we've got is just this moment, this nanosecond of the "right now." 

That's what we've got! So, let's be sure that we don't miss it!

 

 

To Subscribe Just Click This Link

 

Image Credits:

(1) - https://pearlsbeforeswine.fandom.com/wiki/Stephan_Pastis_(character)

(2) and (3) - https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2003/01/01