Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for September 24, 2023

Rat has a heart.

Every now and then, Rat’s soul comes out of hiding.

Like many people today, Rat is just one paycheck from disaster.

There but for the grace of God, go I.

Actually there was a time where I was close to being on the street myself. Fortunately I got some help and surrendered a lot of pride; and I am feeling much better now.

Karma ;-)

Rat did a good deed… Ooooh, totally scary!!!

It took a moment to realize that panels 4 through 10 were a dream sequence.

Nice strip. Very Un-Rat-like.But where’s Pig? Did he get kicked out, too?

Oh wow! Rat actually did something nice for someone else! Awwww!!!

Who are you and what have you done with the real rat?

Life for a working stiff in many parts of the US. The establishment bleeds one dry of funds and the 1%ers will not let one work for a living wage nor get decent comprehensive health care. Here in FL the homeless problem has grown exponentially since the eviction moratorium expired and the right of center Democratic party in FL has no answers. They are clueless which is why I vote Green.

Greens think the elite blues are a new breed of compassionate conservatives, (Clinton and his crew were right of center, no denying that and his surrogates are right wing too like Joe and his team). Biden hears your pain just like Shrub Junior but he just gives lip service. For example, he will when he walk a picket line but then signs legislation which is anti-union and conservative! Banker Joe says the right things but I suspect he is just playing possum with the centrists to get their vote per the DNC playbook. Joe is not senile as the right nut job claim, no he is playing a centrist game to make sure he has the best chance to stay in office. He is a right winger at heart. IMHO (right wing to me is any war hawk or conservative democrat or repubba and Joe fits the definition). Joe used to be anti-union until recently, hell he buried the train union last XMas under pressure from his surrogates and has been pro-life in the past as well. He is still pro-bank as he has always been and that anti-bankruptcy bill that he and the far right rebubbas passed together in 2006 still sickens me. Biden is better than Kamala and Hillary IMHO as well as all the alt right repubbas, but why can not Americans have a better choice than an old establishment tool like Banker Joe? Lets go Green everyone, the DNC is not liberal, they are Repubba Lite! Vote progressive, not just democrat!

“There but for the grace…”

Rat showing compassion? It’s a sign of The End! Where are the four horsemen?

“Who are you, and what have you done with Rat‽”

Wow. Just wow.

This made me think of “I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.”

Well done Rat! Did not know you had it in you!

Now go read Zack Hill.

Is Rat doing something nice? Someone call the media! Rat isn’t a heartless rodent being after all!

I don’t give money to beggars. Instead, I ask them what they need it for, and if they say they need it to buy food, I offer to go with them to a grocery store and buy food for them. If they really need food, they’ll accept it, but if they just want the money to buy booze or drugs, they won’t.

Who knew?

I have a great idea, Get a job! You will be proud of yourself again when you become self supporting now, because you are again mindful of your self worth, you must love yourself to be happy.

Wow, this was unexpected of Rat. Pig, sure, and probably even Goat, but Rat? Definitely a surprise. A nice surprise.

ooh! more free tests. just put them over there with last year’s free tests.

If they were all like that, I’d gladly help. But here, the majority are professional beggars who live in nicer homes than I do – something proven by local media. It sucks that so many ruin it for those who actually need help.

Has Stephan suddenly become a bleeding heart liberal?

Aww Rat, sometimes you show some redeeming qualities!

Compassion pasta. Yum.

Wait, Rat is doing something nice? Hell hath frozen over.

Anybody remember the saying, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”?

Almost shocked to see Rat doing something nice.Also here is an argument for people to unionize. Here in Europe where most people are in unions, there is no quota on sick days and all are of course with full pay. And having sick days do not subtract from the five or six week paid holiday everyone has, in fact if you do get sick while on holiday you will get replacement holidays – all paid for.

I want the real rat back!

I Don’t usually read the comments but i did today. Glad I did I didn’t get the comic at first.

The only thing that Stephen missed was medical debt causing Rat to file for bankruptcy. It’s the most common reason for bankruptcy, and most of those people had employer-subsidized health insurance at the start. A significant health event can cause you to lose your job, and then the health insurance that came with it.

Oh rats!

RAT? REALLY?

a little out of character but love this. thx.

I love this strip, Mr. Pastis.

Rat didn’t suffer from a nightmare, he benefitted from a vision. Great! I didn’t know he had it in him.

Reminds me of Just Knate. He, with the support of followers, goes around to homeless camps or to homeless people, and offers them help with tents and backpacks filled with necessities, or goes to a store and purchases clothing, shoes, etc., and then feeds them. I love watching his videos.

https://www.youtube.Com/@JustKnate

Every once in a while, even Rat can show compassion and warm the hearts of readers. Thanks Pastis.

going back to the first frame of the day dream, I wish more people could afford to stay home when they or their kids are actually sick. I would have kept down quite a bit of drama a few years back.

If even Rat has some small amount of empathy, how much more can we have?

Rat is goin’ soft these days!

If this is advocating for the homeless (unhoused is the PC term), I agree that we should show some compassion. But how about somebody puts a viable plan together other than just “allowing it to happen” in certain cities?

I guess Rat’s not ALWAYS a total and complete ’hole! Good job, little guy! <3

The people standing at the intersections around the Costco here drive more expensive vehicles than I do. There was a story about a local girl wanting to help them so she offered to take them to a restaurant and buy them a meal. They refused and just wanted the cash…to get drugs and alcohol.

Individual compassion for the less fortunate is nice but inadequate and erratic. What we need is systematic, universally available social compassion, starting with a real health-care system, not the fitful mess of profit-driven business centers, built mainly near where the money is, that we’re currently stuck with.

I kept getting Starbucks gift cards even though I don’t drink coffee. So once when someone asked me for money, I tried giving them a card. They serve food too. He didn’t want the card, so I told him that if he walked with me I would buy food near my destination. He didn’t want that, so the conversation ended.

Later on a trip to Washington DC, I was followed by someone who wanted me to buy him food. It was getting towards evening, and most places were closed. I tried to tell him that I wasn’t going to take a direct walk to some place selling food, but he stuck with me. A few blocks away I got to the Southwest Waterfront, and he wanted to eat at a place with a long line. I instead directed him to a pizza window, where I bought him a pizza and kept walking hoping he would stop following me. I was going on to some place a few blocks away because they served caffeine-free soda. I don’t know how to be more assertive to keep people from following me, but it has only happened these two times. I was on a trip by myself and it was nice to have someone to be with, though it was on the edge of going sideways.

Last year my only real friend got kicked out of his homeless shelter for getting in a fight. No other shelter would take his emotional support service animal, so he sent me a message at one in the morning saying he had just been kicked out of Sea-Tac Airport and took the last bus to my home town. I work nights and was up late on my weekend, but I didn’t check my messages until three hours later, so I immediately rushed out to the transit center to pick him up. He stayed for three months in my one-bedroom apartment. My landlord was not happy. Especially because of the non-house trained dog. But soon after he put the heat on us, the veteran’s housing came through and I was able to bridge my friend to that.

After reading the comments, the strip made sense. My only comment is that this strip should have been saved for Oct. 10th. Maybe Pearls will have to rerun it again on world Homeless Day

Every single person is created in the image of God. Every single person has a story.

I offered half my Subway to a beggar recently whose sign said he was hungry. His reply: “I only accept Apple gift cards.” I was flummoxed.

Matthew 25:31-46

For some that may been exactly how things happened and how they got to where they are….

Maybe misanthropes can suddenly decide that misanthropy is hard work?

My take on a Title for today’s strip: “Rat has an Epiphany.”

Rat experiences the birth of empathy.

oh I love this one…

Response to panel seven. You’re not a person.

Helen Keller — ‘I cried because I had no shoes until I met a man who had no feet.’

If you feel the need to help a homeless person, donate to one of the local charities that help homeless people get back onto their feet. There are likely several in the area where you live. That’s the most effective way.

Phil Ochs’ song going through my mind: “There but for fortune may go you or I.”

Nicely done, Stephan ♥

I must be vulnerable. This strip has me crying. Good job, Stephan.

Somewhere, some time, Rat came too close to this. And he remembers.

After all the sadistic things he’s said and done, this comic REALLY surprises (amazes, shocks, stuns) me and probably most readers! Great job, Stephan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

PS—-I LOVED IT!!!!!!!

Is this really what it looks like? Rat, doing a Good Deed?!

I think I shall swoon….

so proud of you Rat

Who is that and where did he hide Rat’s body?

Only in America.

Ah, the USA… where the right to carry a gun is more important than the right to be healthy.

Aww…

Ah, Rat’s annual moment of being nice. :D