Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for March 30, 2014

Cliches — the worst kind of torture.

Hey, dad, that reminds me. If nothing worth having ever comes easy, then why is it the best things in life are free?

Captured by the Yukbarfs. Should have known it would end badly.

Few things worse than exposure to platitudes.

spaceman come on Sunday…..

“When I was your age”…"I had to walk five miles to school in the snow, uphill, both ways."

opuscroakus70… sounds like you and Pops from Pooch Cafe would have a great showdown.

and so on……and so……………

Real life’s a beach, innit, Cal? Spiff never reckoned on Death byPlatitude, I daresay. The ultimate psychological and mental torture.

Of course we all know what happened to Polonius, don’t we?

People who say “suffering is good for you” sound like masochists to me.

“Life is Tough and Suffering builds Character…”

You don’t say… How unfortunate that old Cliche has a very poor track record. Can you say… Hardened Criminal??

Or maybe, “The Oppressed becomes the Oppressor”??

“Nothing worth having ever comes easy…”

Except when you’re born into some family with advantages, some more than others…

Now I wonder how the Koch-Brother’s children are doing…

“Virtue is it’s own reward…”

Or Punishment… that Cliche cuts both ways. You know… “Taking one for the team”, just make sure you can still walk away from that one or at the very least Limp.

“When I was your age…”

Wait, let me sit down so I can listen to you more comfortably while you tell (passively complaining/rant-on) about your (ill-spent) youth. (By the way, NOT MY FAULT, I just got here…)

Don’t worry, I’ll be (just as bitter/cynical) like you and do the same with my children…

Don’t you think that Dad might have forgot all about those after having Calvin ???

“When I was your age…”

Try telling a little kid: “I had the same problem when I was your age” or “You’re doing a lot better than I did when I was your age”, and watch their reaction!

This is the worst kind of torture. Calvin let me introduce you to captain Eddie. You two should write a book together.I be your first customer.

I used to do the same to a stepson. Probably should have been banned under the Geneva Convention. I doubt he ever heard more than the first few words before going into his Calvin mode.

It gets worse, Calvin. Wait til he tells you how he had to walk to school – Uphill both ways! Plan your escape NOW!

When I was you age we walked ten miles up hill. Through 20 feet of snow. Both ways. With out boots. And we liked it that way…

Wow!

xxx

Wish this artist would return to his cartoonist pen.Brillant!

“Life is tough and suffering builds character.”

Nope. Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional.

My mom does this, and she never shuts up. I’m right there with you, Calvin.

@kelloggdental Sorry, no ‘r’ in the Peanuts ‘Aaugh’. Check it out: http://peanuts.wikia.com/wiki/Aaugh!

“Fetch . . . the comfy chair!”

I can still remember how intolerable a Dad-lecture was. Sometimes giving a Dad-lecture is the only way we dads can maintain our tenuous grip on reality when faced with the impossibilities of parenting.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Aside from the pious moralizing (which is insufferable enough), I get irritated whenever somebody claims that thus-and-so builds character. That may be, but do they ever stop to ask what kind of character? The assumption always seems to be that the supposed benefit builds good character, but I submit that, if left untempered, suffering is more likely to result in the opposite, as W. Somerset Maugham asserted: “It is not true that suffering ennobles the character; happiness does that sometimes, but suffering for the most part makes men petty and vindictive.”