For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for March 10, 2021

well said, Miss Edwards

Wow! Miss Edwards’ siblings were monsters. Putting things where she could not reach them forces Miss Edwards to ask her sister or someone else for help. Individuals in wheelchairs do not always need help and they get a sense of individualism if they are able to accomplish things without assistance. The sister is pretty mean.

However, the brother appears to be even worse than the sister. He put the unstable sister in a swing and charged his friends to ride in her chair. A person’s wheelchair is almost like an extension of the individual. If leaning on a wheelchair is considered to be an invasion of their personal space, imagine what it means when people take rides on your chair potentially damaging it, with you powerless to do anything about it.

Miss Edwards said it was OK because she got them back, i.e., it’s OK for people to harm you as long as you get revenge on them. Also, the people who tease you are the ones who like you the most is wrong in so many ways. Miss Edwards was bonding with her abusers. What’s worse is she is encouraging Elizabeth to do the same.

Miss Edwards may be Elizabeth’s favorite teacher, but she gives terrible advice.

A junior high teacher once told me that the boys who ruined my self esteem on a daily basis were just doing it because they liked me. What a freaking genius she was. Anyway, Michael’s just weird. You can’t do much with weird, except wait it out.

So according to Miss Edwards, Michael “likes” Elizabeth……ew. I guess that explains why he lets her watch while he takes a whiz..

Just don’t get in a place where the anger is so great that all you can do is walk away, and to keep on walking. Keep the conversation going.

I love this teacher! <3

I was horribly bullied all through my school years, from 3rd grade straight up to getting death threats a week before high school graduation. Even an alleged “friend” told people that she liked hanging around me because I was so pathetic, I made her feel LESS so by comparison (I took that as a compliment; yeah I WAS kind of pathetic). My cousin, who was “popular” told me to not say anything to him if he was with friends. My mother fed me all of the platitudes, from “they actually like you” to my personal favorite, “They’re just jealous.”

3 10 21 TOO many people on GoComics , can’t get on the sites 625 pm CT..Did anyone else have this problem?

There is truth to this. I worked in a heavy metal stamping plant. We primarily made car parts for the major automakers. One thing about that place is that if the other guys gave you a hard time you were accepted. If people left you alone that meant you were not. I used to get teased a lot and given a hard time, so to speak. This plant had several sections. Sometimes if one section was short staffed guys from another section would be transferred there for the day. One day this one guy was working in our section, a loaner. He was a big man, loud. He was intimidating and going after me. I cannot recall why. This happened in the late 70’s. I was in my early 20’s, looked like a teenager and a bit on the quiet side. I was only 5’7" and slim. In other words you would not worry if you met me in an alley. LOL Anyway this big guy was acting agressive towards me. Four guys that often ‘gave me a hard time’ were sitting near their press having a coffee break. When they saw what was going on all four sprang up and rushed the guy and told him in no uncertain terms to get lost. The big guy did just that. He took off. I have always appreciated how those guys sprang to my defense in a heartbeat. I still them and others to this day. We really were friends. It was as if I was their little brother and no one was going to be allowed to mess with me!

Yeah, I have noticed that phenomenon. “Friends” will mess with me like enemies wouldn’t dare without expecting a fist sandwich. Irritating, that.

Yeah, I have noticed that phenomenon. “Friends” will mess with me like enemies wouldn’t dare without expecting a fist sandwich. Irritating, that.

It’s bittersweet because I was told this myself when I was younger. Nowadays it’s passive/microsaggression and needs to be dealt with. If kids don’t learn the boundaries now, it carries over into their adulthood.

Don’t quite believe what the teacher said?

I only joke with people I like and that’s most everybody. There ARE those people though that I never would joke with. My deceased mother-in-law, while she was alive, was one of them…..

The only good kids in the strip are the Enjos. Dawn and Brian never fight. The Pattersons have as much chance of being a functional family as Miss Edwards has winning a decathalon.

Hey, how about being a “typical" teacher? Teach Elizabeth her times tables, teach her why the world is round, teach her who killed whom in what battle and why. Leave family disputes to John and Elly. You don’t live in the Patterson residence.

Is it Miss Edwards or Mister Edwards? That teacher has got a head shape and hairdo like Michael’s. If the teacher is a woman she sure is butch!

unfortunately today the people who do it are bullies who don’t like you because you are different from them.

There’s a definite fine line between kidding and gentle teasing, and abusing and bullying someone. There are, unfortunately, lots of people who don’t understand that and constantly cross over that line.

There is a modicum of truth to what Miss Edwards is saying. If I didn’t care about someone, I would bother to joke with them or “give them a bad time”. If I don’t like someone, I try to avoid having any dealings with them, whenever possible. I only kid and joke with the people I care about.

I was never bullied in school. The kids seemed to like me as I was. I was berated mostly by the two women in my life who were suppose to love me. My Grandaunt and my step-mother.

Miss Edwards could have added that they split “the take”, and it would have sounded even more funny.

Then that explains why in most cases I was left alone.

Teacher Goodie-Two-Shoes, strikes again with one of her “words of wisdom” answers to all of life’s problems.

Okay, I agree Miss Edwards siblings went to far, but it’s possible a sibling with a disability would prefer siblings that teased her rather than ones who treated her with kid gloves because shes “handicapped”. Like they’re saying, “You’re no different from anyone else.”

A teasing scene that went too far…

Gordon’s Club. June 11th, 2000

Several guys are drinking. Michael comes in with MarthaMichael: Hey Gordon. Hey there guys, this is Martha.

Billy Batts: Hey, Mikey, all dressed up and doing the town! Look at this Mikey, hey Mikey!

Michael{whispering to Gordon}: Oh no, I forgot you were hosting a party for this guy. Let me go and say hello.

Billy Batts: Hey there Mikey, I have not seen you in six years, I have been away in prison.

Michael: Watch the suit.

Billy Batts: Watch the suit? You little canuck, I known you all my life. Don’t be getting too big on me now.

Michael: Alright good. Just don’t go teasing now.

Billy Batts: Hey Mikey, if I wanted to tease you, I’d tell you to go home and get your shine box.Michael glowers as the other men laugh uproariously and Martha looks down at her shoesThis kid was great. They used to call him “Spitshine Mikey” I swear to God. Oh, he’d make your shoes look like fucking mirrors.looking at Martha Excuse my language. looking at men. He was terrific, he was the best. And he made a lot of money, too. Salut, Mikey!Michael: No more shines, Billy.

Billy Batts: What?

Michael: I said no more shines. Maybe you didn’t hear about it, you’ve been away for a long time, they didn’t go up there and tell you. I don’t shine shoes any more.

Billy Batts: Relax, will ya, for cryin’ out… wha-what’s got into you? I’m teasing a little bit, that’s all. I’m teasing because I care the most, like Elizabeth’s teacher said.

Michael: Sometimes you don’t sound like you’re kidding, y’know, there’s a lot of people around here.

Billy Batts: Mikey, I’m only kidding with you. We’re having a party. I mean, I just came home, I haven’t seen you in a long time and I’m teasing, and now you’re gettingfresh. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.

Michael I’m sorry, too, it’s okay, no problem.

Billy Batts: Salud. He pulls his glass to his lips, tips it, then reconsiders and puts it back on the table. Now go home and get your shine box.

Michael slams his glass on the ground

Michael: You, you, Christ-killing piece of dago crap! Michael lunges at Billy, but is restrained by Gordon, who ushers him to the door

Billy Batts: Yeah, yeah. Come on, come on, come on!talking to his crew Take it easy, take it easy. Don’t get nervous. talking to Gordon Let him go, let him go.

Gordon: Batts, Batts, I’m sorry, Michael gets a little loaded. He doesn’t mean any disrespect.

Billy Batts: He don’t mean any disrespect, Gordon? Are you nuts? Teach this kid a some manners. Hey Jimmy, what’s right is right. You understand what I’m talkin’ ’bout?

I did see a Foxtrot comic where the parents were remarking about rare sights like Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster, then they say, “put that along with our daughter cleaning her room, ha ha!” The daughter then remarks, “You know, ever thought your reactionary attitude could be reason why I don’t help out around the house more often?”

There’s a big difference between teasing and bullying. Stealing a handicapped child’s wheelchair sounds like bullying