For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 12, 2018

Oh, come on, Michael! Laugh a little (no, not sarcastically)!

Alexander Pope’s quote has been punned from a recognition of divine as God to divine as dog.

I disagree with John. Dogs are good at forgetting cruelty to a point. Even dogs will know to fear someone who has been repeatedly cruel to them no matter their desire to forgive. I am glad Elizabeth is showing some remorse for poor Farley, because it doesn’t look he is going to get any from John.

I’ve always said that “To err is human, to purr feline.”

Actually, a good quote, John. Dogs are forgiving mainly because they don’t understand things like that – an elastic causing a cut in their leg. They only understand there is pain. In some situations, they might make the connection between cause and effect but in Farley’s situation, I doubt it, so Farley is only happy the pain has been removed. Nonetheless, I like John’s quote. Dogs ARE more forgiving. Dogs are forgiving even when neglected, underfed, ailing and not taken to the vet, in pain, etc. Their apparent capacity for forgiveness is actually due to their lack of understanding that the humans are supposed to take better care of them – they never knew any better. The only group of dogs that are not as forgiving – abused dogs. Them you gotta earn their trust. Farley didn’t understand why he was in pain and that Elly needed to take him to the vet to find out why he was hurting. His hero was the vet if you’d go back to yesterday’s strip and take another peek at panel one. He was adoring the vet and thanking him. He knew who made the pain go away.

It’s more than a little harsh to criticize Elizabeth. She is still young with no experience in to play with a dog without causing it stress etc. How would she know that an elastic could cut his leg till it bled. A big brother should be showing her how she can play with Farley without hurting him…or herself. Criticising a sibling tends to become a bad habit over time and causes siblings to avoid each other and cease being friends with each other….sometimes for a very very long time.

The thing is many animals in the while encounter hazards such as this all the time. Getting entangled in our garbage.

Bad pun but absolutely true.

So often though dogs, even those who’ve been horribly abused, want to trust SOMEONE. We’ve had 2 Pitties in our city who were nearly starved to death. But they’ve come to trust their new family, and are happy & healthy.

We rescued one ourselves who only weighed 27 pounds when we found her. Or maybe she found us… Anyway, we got her up to a healthy weight & she was the sweetest, most affectionate dog you could want. She’d even sleep somewhere else if the cat was on her bed.

To Err is Human, to forgive is not company policy.

To err is human, to forgive is not the I.R.S.!

But what a way to make a person real more guiltier.

Considering John and Elly are now stuck with a veterinary bill, it would be fair to make Elizabeth pay for it. Maybe not 100%, but she could be make to hand over whatever money she has to her parents in order to help them pay. Or she could work it off with extra chores, no allowance, or doing odd jobs until the debt is retired. After all, if Elizabeth had not been lackadaisical, there would have been no need to hire a veterinarian for Farley in the first place.

Looking at panel 2, Elizabeth is shedding tears of sorrow at Farley’s plight. I think she has learned a valuable lesson that will last her for life. Her sorrow is her punishment, and Farley’s forgiveness, her reward, which she will cherish.

Remember when Michael snapped at his aunt and uncle at the farm? That was a quarter of Elizabeth’s wrongdoing, and no one was physically hurt. Yet Michael was punished by being made to stand out in the frigid December snow. There was no sympathy for him.

It isn’t often I give a personal experience, but I think this is worth sharing as I remember it vividly. My brother, who often had ideas for a fast buck, built a makeshift carnival ride where you rode a coaster off tracks from the roof of our shed, which was great fun. He charged a fifty cents a ride. He got a kid from a poor family, “Ben Sullivan”, to assist him in resetting and releasing the coaster. One day Ben forgot to uncoil the rope and he went along for the ride, causing him to fall and break his arm. My parents called our family doctor, who admitted Ben to the local hospital. Later after dinner my father made an anouncment.

Dad: “I told Ben’s parents I am taking care of all his medical bills.”

My brother: “Why should you have to pay anything? It was Ben’s fault.”

Dad: “Mr. & Mrs. Sullivan could sue me if they were those kind of people, but that is not why I agreed to pay the bill. It was not Ben’s fault, it was yours. I told you to tell whomever is helping you about the procedure for the coaster. You didn’t do it.”

Brother: “I will make it sure it won’t happen again.”

Dad: “Damn right it won’t. I just took an axe to the coaster.”

Brother: “WHAT THE…?!”

Dad: “I also know you made $89 from your little business. You will hand that eighty-nine dollars over to me to help defray the cost of Ben’s doctor bills.”

Brother: “WHAT?! As if losing my business is not punishment enough?!”

Dad: “It is only the start of your punishment. Every day you going to visit Mrs. Sullivan and do all the chores Ben did for her. You will do that until Dr. Derolf says Ben is well enough to do his chores again. Oh, and in case you were wondering, Tom Sawyer was just a story. You will not cajole or hire any of your friends into doing the chores for you. I think that will give you time to realize that when a man goes into business he becomes responsible for the safety of his employees.”

Stupid child.