Cat's Cafe by Matt Tarpley for February 18, 2020

And then, he was never seen or heard of ever again.

May the Force be with you !

[Winces in recognition and pain ]

I sure hope he survives.

Sometimes, one is too mired in and unable to ask for help :(

I’m worried about him too

Hyena, please come back. You are not a burden, and anybody who says you are, they’re wrong. You are amazing, unique, beautiful. Don’t go down this path alone.

“I’ll be fine!”

All true, but I’m really hoping for a part 2 (and maybe part 3) of this arc!

And that is the saddest chapter of the story – you have friends who have “been there, done that, got the T-shirt”, who are willing to help you because they CARE ABOUT YOU, and you turn away.

It hurts a lot when a friend’s (or family member’s) actions tell you that they don’t trust you or your motives.

I’ve done this. People who offered to help me hurt me instead. You can’t trust everyone or expect the same thing that helped you to help someone else. Some of them meant well but expected me to settle for things that were not good for me and got angry when I tried to stand up for myself. Others took advantage of my wounded condition, used me and my resources, even told me that I wasn’t allowed to eat my own food. It took me decades to be able to trust anyone again. It takes a lot of love prayer and patience to bring someone back out from the brambles.

I have been Hyena.

The hardest lesson I ever learned was that I can’t possibly know everything! Asking for help from those who know something you don’t know is a strength—not a weakness.

So sad. I hope that Hyena finally accepts help.

I encountered a story more than 20 years ago of a family man struck with terminal cancer. Before his condition thoroughly debilitated him, he disappeared into the wilderness to “save” his friends and family the bother of caring for him. The story presented him as a hero, a wise and selfless martyr. C. S. Lewis would’ve called it damned nonsense with theological precision. The man was selfish, cowardly, and cruel to withhold from those he supposedly loved the honor of caring for him in his last days, to leave them to wonder how and when and where he died.

Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” The power of life and death, whether over ourselves or over another, is too terrible and tempting to bear. It is the power to suffer with others and minister to them that strengthens and ennobles, and it is the power we should seek and embrace in love.

Hi

I read the first strip and thought, oh wat a nice family friendly comic.But hell this is deep.

Should I be worried that this is so relatable?