For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for May 04, 2023

HA!!

Wake-up call.

John has his hands in his pockets, when he should be using them to guard his wallet.

Now she has another good reason for getting all new living room furniture, so they can give Gordon all their old stuff. Lol

Mike doesn’t know it, but he just erased that smug, imperious expression (in panel 1) right off his mother’s face!!

Show off to who(m)? They don’t do a lot of entertaining.

Yeah, I know exactly how John feels here…. “I want. I want. I want. I want. I want. I want this. I want that. I want. I want. I want!” ….. Ya know…. People around here want to be able to take nice vacations, get expensive landscape working done, and go to concerts with pricey tickets. Last September they said, “I’m going to save all the money from my side business to help pay for a nice vacation next summer“. Well, business has been halfway decent… I know, I’ve been mailing the packages… then, come to find out a couple of weeks ago that not one stinkin’ dime has been saved for that… money got spent on frivolous crap they don’t need…yet they still expect to go on vacation and somehow I’m supposed to pay for it all… First World Problems, I suppose (eyeroll)..

I spent nearly six years in an former motel room, getting four degrees at Penn State. I was happy to have shelter. It was the degrees that got me absolutely nothing!

Only in America do people think they are entitled to having ‘good furniture’ instead of having to settle for having rotting furniture.

The thing is that in a few years, he’ll have more. John and Ellie are basically in the maintenance phase where they’re just trying to keep what they’ve got.

Stuff clutters your vision to see what is important.

There are two ways to be rich. One is to earn more. The other is to want less.

In the beautiful movie “Fiddler on the Roof” the main character makes the observation that his newly married daughter and her husband are poor as church mice, have nothing, but are so happy together they don’t notice that. One of the few musicals I love.

How many of us started with bricks and a plank to make a book shelf? I sure did. Had it for 10 years. Even after I got a good job and started making better money.

Gordon has independence, his sanity, good friends, his youth, his health …

He had (himself) nothing before. What he has now belongs to him. It’s a matter of pride in ownership. Much as I tried to instill in my kids the virtue of taking care of there things, nothing did it until they had things that they had bought and paid for. Then they became obsessive over caring for them.

When I was seventeen I dreamed of being king and

Having everything I wanted

But that was long ago and

My dreams did not unfold so

I’m still the king of nothing

When I was seventeen I dreamed I gave a ring to

A pretty queen and then I held her

But that was slumber’s fault for

I have no love at all and

I’m still the king of nothing

If I could rule I’d dance my cares away

Find romance every day

I wouldn’t have to listen to this poor fool say

I’m the king

I’m the king

I’m the king of nothing

If I could rule I’d dance my cares away

Find romance every day

I wouldn’t have to listen to this poor fool say

I’m the king

I’m the king

I’m the king of nothing

I got plenty of nothing……..

Mike is growing up and now advising his parents of ‘values’… Good for him.

That’s Gordon for you. Always keeping on the sunny side of life.

Re-phrase that-“Nothing new.” The newest thing I have is my 65 yr. old husband and he’s used also. Nothing new here- – just like on face-book.

But it’s Gordon’s nothing…

Wealth is a matter of where you started. A cup is a boon to a beggar.

Elly is spending her husband’s money on furniture. Have they even paid all the repair bills for the flooded basement and replacement plumbing?

Elly has no clue about saving for a rainy day. She better hope her job at the library is long-lasting. Trouble ahead.

What Ellie really means in panel #1. “I want an expensive couch that no one is allowed to sit on just so I can show everyone how much money we have.”

When I was a kid(1950s-60s) I had a couple of elderly(in their 80s) Aunts who had a “front room” like that, no one could sit on the couch or chairs, the couch was covered in plastic to keep is “looking new” they were rooms meant to impress visitors with how much money they had.

I hope Elly isn’t like Hyacinth (Keeping Up Appearances on PBS). She’d want something as good as in Buckingham Palace…

He has his independence. That’s worth all the ‘good’ furniture in the world.

I love it!

When I was but a lad, our living room was off limits to us. To the point we would get spanked if we even set foot on the carpet. One time, my dads boss was there and mom called my little brother in to meet the boss. My little brother started screaming “NO no no!” and crying and ran away from the edge of the living room. When the boss asked why my brother did that, I told him. Man, did I get a spanking after the boss left. Now that I think of it, I don’t ever remember going in that living room.

My parents were married for 63 years. During their marriage, they owned just 3 sofas, 3 dining room sets, and 3 clothes dryers. They grew up in the Great Depression where they learned it was more important to ‘make do’ and ‘pinch pennies’ and ‘have money in the bank’ instead of having a houseful of expensive stuff. A home should be filled with love and memories, not filled with stuff just to impress the neighbors.

Gord just wanted to GET OUT! Bet his parents were jerks. Me and my sister got SUPER lucky on that front. <3

Gordon’s life is like mine. Glad to have a place to live.

freedom from toxicity is NOT nothing

What a revelation!

Sadly, this won’t be the end of Elly’s wish to show off. She’ll still be ordering expensive furniture in a month or two, just in time to find herself unemployed!

I hope it’s not a wake up call. If that’s what Elly wants and they can afford it, why shouldn’t she have one really pretty room she can call her own, if she can keep the kids out?

He has everything. A roof over his head that he can call his own.

What a waste of space.

He’s got the basics. What more do you need….

I wouldn’t call those items plus his own private, independent space “nothing.”

…Our first apartment!

Okay, Gordon is a young kid moving into his first place. Most people in that situation probably can’t afford new things. They make do with what they can get.

Elly & John are a financially stable couple that can afford luxury items. If John can buy himself a sports car that wasn’t even drivable during a winter storm, he can let his wife have some new furniture.

Elly would tell Michael “Don’t be silly. Gordon is beneath us. This is same loser who tried to steal my car!”

It’s not like Elly and John are just starting out. John, do something to make your spouse happy. She’s worth it.

And it is all his!

I don’t really think buying furniture so you can show off to other people is great at all.

Setup complete. Now the zinger…….Pow

This reminded me of Goodfellas, where three scenes happen in succession.

First scene: The mafia boss tells Henry Hill he does not want any drug dealing.

Second scene: Henry Hill is cutting cocaine in preparation to sell it, saying he had to sneak it around, but it was good. He then gets his two friends to come in on the trade, then remarking “In a couple of weeks I had a down payment on my house and everything was rolling”.

Third scene: Henry Hill’s wife is showing off a plush living room to friends. (Background music was “Wives Must always be Lovers”, one of Elly’s favorite songs).