Zen Pencils by Gavin Aung Than for July 13, 2015

This is adorable. What a great illustrative concept for the quote.

Five minutes later, the monster ate her. There is a strong inclination among the current generation to believe that if they just want something bad enough, they will surely succeed and become zillionaires. But they do not go all in, because they cannot accept that the monster may well eat them, and for every one who dares and wins, the monster will eat dozens. Unless you care not for whether you get eaten, you cannot succeed.

Or, in the words of my great grandfather, “The kids today, I just don’t know, ya’know?”

This comic seems to promote the idea that if you’re determined, you’re bound to be successful and happy, no matter how naive/ignorant and foolish you are. Sorry; it just ain’t so. Can happen, yes, but very rarely. Much more common are failure, disappointment, even death..Much more realistic is the conclusion of Jerry Bryant’s song “Harbo & Samuelson” about the first two men recorded to have crossed the Atlantic in a rowboat: “Like them be prepared for the task you are facing; they were not only brave; but by God, THEY COULD ROW!”.By the way, does Gavin really think it’s much more fun swimming in a pool of basketballs than playing an actual game with friends?

This is a good one!

That quote is supremely ironic coming from Amelia Earhart, who crashed and died because she wasn’t able to just do anything she wanted to do.

The monster is your own shadowy, darkside. Confront it, and it becomes a valuble ally. Deny it, and you wind up projecting it onto one “them” or another, whether racial, religious, political, whatever.