What the comics tell
I’ve recently made it a silly habit to spend some time with the morning comics, and I now get why the Post decided to print them in color each day and not just on Sunday. Like many Washingtonians, I considered canceling my subscription after Election Day. Though I was sure I could do away with the front section (all you have to do is walk around and you pretty much know what’s going on), I wasn’t sure if I could completely step away from my box scores, especially after spring training begins for the Nats. So I hung on and explored other sections of the paper. To my surprise, I found a daily perusal of the “funnies” to offer a useful morning ritual. Comics represent a safe haven of sorts, far from the madding crowd, but they also represent something more deeply important in our fast-becoming-Robot world: humanity! Drawn by real people scouring daily life as they assemble images and text for a few panels to share with their public, these humble pop artists are working craftspeople not trying to hit a home run each time they come up to bat.
That’s not possible, nor is it the point. Rarely are the “funnies” LOL funny or deeply poignant, but as a whole each day their creators somehow capture the zeitgeist. Within their brightly colored, newspaper-dulled images, one experiences something much closer to actual experience– more personal, more satisfying as a representation of our lives– than anything the news has to offer. God knows we could benefit from such a lens, far more accurate (ironically) than those offered by the media, social or otherwise. In perusing the comics, one senses creative human forces at work. Sometimes the work makes sense and elicits a giggle or a sniffle, but often the joke is too plain, or not clear at all. But regardless, the reader knows they are participating in a recognizable world of humanity which is humble and, in a palpable sense, generous.
The point is we go about our days and we make the most of them and, if we comment on them at all as we go, it’s not to dominate the news but rather to get along and perhaps add a little comfort or a giggle to someone else’s day.