Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for December 26, 2014

Rat just discovered why he is never happy; it is because he is who (what) he is!

He blew his mind? Funny, I didn’t see him take anything…

Rat ripped off Buckaroo Bonzai …

Self-awareness is a double-edged blade.

If that’s the Lemmings’ cliff, I think I have a solution for Rat’s problem…

that is the lamenting cliff, and people throw down notes :) which are called Lamenting cliff’s notes

Whoo, boy! I think we’re going to see rat attending AA meetings pretty soon. He’s about ready.

Appears the BATtering Rat received has cleared his thinking.

Okay, so you’ve discovered existential angst. Big whoop. Until it means nothing to you, it means something to you.

Good luck with enlightenment Rat.

One of the rare glimpses at his internal Rat.

I stink, therefore I am.

they say Money won’t make you happy…but it’s a damn good incentive.

Cosmo Kramer!

The gun is missing.

Deep

You’re not from Nantucket, are you?

Pastis just turned rat into Jaden Smith.

straight out of bukaroo bonzai!

RAt finally saw his problem.. himself

Once when he was very young, Snoopy climbed over the fence at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. But when he got to the other side, he realized he was still in the world. Wherever you go, there you are.

“Wherever you go, there you are”— Buckaroo Banzai

Sounding very Buckeroo Banzai, Stephan.^_^

I thought of Popeye – “I yam what I yam.”

welcome to the ‘real’ world rat

Oh you don’t need to change, Rat!

We’ve grown quite familiar with your arrogant, nasty, violent, greedy ways.

xxx

Rat? A follower of Buckaroo Banzai???

Hardly a new thought. I’m pretty sure Delta Burke said this on “Designing Women” over 25 years ago.

The general sentiment is derived from a classic German Romantic poem, Der Wanderer, by G. P. Schmidt von Lubeck (1766-1849). In the strip, Rat is the Byronic antihero standing on a mountain top, as painted by David Kaspar Friedrich. An erudite comic, indeed!

“Caelum non animum mutant qui trans mare currunt”.HoRATius said

Didn’t exactly need dynamite to blow that.

Buckaroo Banzai lives! “No matter where you go…there you are!”

That realization is what led me to become a Christian. “Take up your cross and follow me to the crucifixion site.”

I wonder what Descartes (the guy who said ‘I think; therefore I am’) would have to say about Rat’s realization.

Usually Pastis hides poor strips on the days or week after Christmas, but dang, this is a strong strip.

“THE PROBLEM IS NOT YOU, IT’S ME”.