For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for September 22, 2023

  1. Ava2
    C  over 1 year ago

    The world doesn’t revolve around me?  That can’t be right..

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    9thCapricorn  over 1 year ago

    Excellent parenting, John. And Liz does look cute in the last panel. If Lynn continues to draw her in this cuter version, she’d be happier – that would mean no more beanie-on-wet-hair- and -hair-drying-thicker-on-the-ends look. Just a simple uniform page boy.

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    TexTech  over 1 year ago

    Good, John. Give her a little bit bigger perspective.

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    snsurone76  over 1 year ago

    It’s just a typical case of teenage self-centeredness, John. Let it go.

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    snsurone76  over 1 year ago

    At least Liz is starting to see things in their proper perspective.

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    Johnny Q Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Remember when Calvin let Hobbes cut his hair?

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    mnexplorer+  over 1 year ago

    Reality check.

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    howtheduck  over 1 year ago

    Don’t listen to John, Elizabeth. You can’t tell someone they can’t be sad because someone has it worse. You can’t tell them their pain doesn’t matter. There will always be someone who has it worse, but that does not mean your emotions and feelings are irrelevant.

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    hubbard3188  over 1 year ago

    I would have gone with a blue Mohawk, but that’s just me.

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    French Persons' Celebration of Peeved Harry Dinkle Premium Member over 1 year ago

    No, the proper young teenaged girl response here is to huff and walk away.

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    Last Rose Of Summer Premium Member over 1 year ago

    For heaven sake, shut yourself in the bathroom with a curling iron and find a way to fix it. We’ve all been there and we figured out a way to fix a bad hair cut. About 10 years ago I really got a 50’s housewife cut. I figured out how to curl it so that it looked fine.

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    shadowdwellr6352  over 1 year ago

    Perspective is a good thing. Sometimes it has to be delivered rather than self-administered.

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    jmworacle  over 1 year ago

    Cold water meet face…..

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    Tantor  over 1 year ago

    Go away?! that’s not nice!

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    Alys France  over 1 year ago

    Is Elizabeth hoping that if she mopes enough one of her parents will pay for a new haircut?

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    Macushlalondra  over 1 year ago

    While John has a point, that doesn’t mean that to Liz this haircut is a disaster. I remember one time a lot of us were shamed when we heard the very tragic story of a woman who lost all 3 of her children in a car accident one day. She was injured herself and her husband had to tell her that all 3 of their children were gone. Just as we were all making sounds of sympathy and “Oh, how terrible!” the person telling us this said “Kinda makes the flat tire you had last week look insignificant doesn’t it?” That’s not really fair since you can’t compare a flat tire to 3 tragically killed children and it doesn’t mean that a flat tire can’t be a bad situation at the time. Some perspective is called for.

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    garethkb415 Premium Member over 1 year ago

    If I’m ever that much of a dick to my kids shoot me

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    figuratively speaking  over 1 year ago

    I understand that it’s important to you and I can sympathize with that, but look at the big picture, the world around you. One of my dad’s favorite talks.

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    Pet  over 1 year ago

    Well done, Dad!

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    dcdete.  over 1 year ago

    Glad that dad is in his cheerful mood today! Can you imagine what dad would say if he was morose and sullen?

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    Robert Nowall Premium Member over 1 year ago

    “Why is this much worse?” “Because it happened to me!”

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    GirlGeek Premium Member over 1 year ago

    That is correct.

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    jarvisloop  over 1 year ago

    I rarely comment about the nature of posters, but I will this time.

    Please don’t give howtheduck any more dopamine hits. He’s trolling and enjoys the reactions.

    I’ve seen his type before in other threads.

    (Notice that I refer to him as a male. It seems that females rarely troll.)

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    PoodleGroomer  over 1 year ago

    You have cute hair that will grow back that your brain doesn’t accept because it is different.

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    DawnQuinn1  over 1 year ago

    John has a VERY valid argument.

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    OzarksJim  over 1 year ago

    Hair today, gone tomorrow. From the Ozzie and Harriet show.

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    djtenltd  over 1 year ago

    We always complain about not having any shoes to wear until we see the person who’s paraplegic.

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    calliarcale  over 1 year ago

    She took that well. Sometimes getting a little perspective is all it takes.

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    Daltongang Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Reality always ruins a good pity party.

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    Redd Panda  over 1 year ago

    Adolescence throws everything out of proportion.

    Luckily, I was a perfect angel and nothing bothered me.

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    Foob  over 1 year ago

    Personally, I think it’s all in her head.

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    g04922  over 1 year ago

    Good for Dad…. a dose of reality for Liz…

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    Ken Norris Premium Member over 1 year ago

    And in all the years since this strip first ran, nothing has gotten better…

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    Angry Indeed Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Nothing like a dad to putting it all in perspective.

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    Angry Indeed Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Panel three seems to be a universal theme of humanity, sadly.

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    raptor  over 1 year ago

    My father reply would have been – are any bones broken, are you bleeding, do you need a doctor? No, then go play…

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    John Jorgensen  over 1 year ago

    Here’s one strip that did not need to be updated in order to fit better with the spirit of the age.

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    eced52  over 1 year ago

    Rude awakening, much?

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    [Unnamed Reader - 14b4ce]  over 1 year ago

    Right between t he eyes with a sledge hammer

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    mindjob  over 1 year ago

    My dad would have knocked me upside the head

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    The Great_Black President  over 1 year ago

    John, this is 1994. People were being stabbed. not shot!

    There should be a strip where the Pattersons are watching TV when suddenly they see a Ford Bronco being tailed by several police cars in a low-speed chase.

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    EnlilEnkiEa  over 1 year ago

    Happiness is only a little perspective away.

    (She’d make a delightful lead singer…)

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    calmom75 Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Because this is a retread comic from her original publications, it’ sad to realize the things John mentions are still part of our world today :-(

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    AZfroggie  over 1 year ago

    It’s all about perspective.

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    nelsonks3646  over 1 year ago

    While John makes some valid points about the bigger problems in the world, he trivialized his daughter’s feelings. Being upset about her hair doesn’t mean she thinks the world revolves around her. A better solution, in addition to pointing out the more serious issues in the world, would be to get her an appontment at a nice hair salon so the cut could be fine tuned to be more flattering. Her self esteem as a growing teen is important to her mental health. Maturity will come later.

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    raybarb44  over 1 year ago

    Thank you for giving the perspective of her concerns for the real world concerns, but a little sympathy for her poor decision is a Dad’s obligation also……..

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    tammyspeakslife Premium Member over 1 year ago

    A girl going through this needs a parental hug and a kind word. Not “If you think that’s bad!” But something like, “I know you think that this is the worst thing ever but trust me honey, you’ll be glad one day that this is the worst that happened to you.”

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    brick10  over 1 year ago

    A new perspective is often useful.

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    Statick  over 1 year ago

    Nicely played, John.

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    kamoolah  over 1 year ago

    Elizabeth is sullen that she lost her long hair. What was John supposed to do about it, anyway? Unless suggested a voodoo lady who will shrink Elizabeth’s head, thus making her hair long again.

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    CoreyTaylor1  over 1 year ago

    And what are you doing to help all those people, John? Cleaning all their teeth for free!? Liz is the one person with a problem you COULD help, and all you do is nag at her. I thought that was your wife’s job, and you were the CARING parent!

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    sperry532  over 1 year ago

    They both need to develop a tad more perspective.

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    comicalUser  over 1 year ago

    This is why a large portion of the the world dislikes the Unites States of America and at the same time want to be here. We live in a our own personal bubbles and care little what other plights face so, so many throughout the world.

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    sjsczurek  over 1 year ago

    Okay, Elizabeth has to get over her hair mishap. But that doesn’t mean she has a Warty Bliggens complex.

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    Katsuro Premium Member over 1 year ago

    Full disclosure: Nothing wrong with giving people a little perspective, but it needs to be done after you show some sympathy. The only thing we’ve seen John do is tell Elizabeth to “stop moping”.

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    ktrabbit  over 1 year ago

    Oh, jeez…go back to the salon and have them trim up the sides…that’s all it needs. BOOM…style restored!!

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    Asharah  over 1 year ago

    Check out the strip on September 26 2015, dear old dad makes fun of Elizabeth’s ponytails by calling them punytails and make her look like her head has handles. And when she gets upset he tells her she’s too young to be so sensitive.

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    M209T  about 1 year ago

    I get it. Dad doesn’t. He was never a young girl with young girl problems.

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    beharford  about 1 year ago

    This is a lesson that more teenagers – people in general, methinks – need to learn…or maybe it is a lesson that parents need to make a point of teaching

    Back in June of 1972 I was a blooming adolescent, with critical, life-changing issues before me, things that I could never hope to overcome, and life was so terribly unjust…well, so I thought.

    I was carrying on one evening about, well, something (obviously it was really important if I can’t recall what it was, LOL) and my Dad, the stalwart Englishman that he was, tired after a long day at work, evidently had had enough of my whinging and whining and carrying on. He handed me his newspaper – a day old copy of the Vancouver Sun if I recall correctly – and wordlessly directed me to the front page photo and caption of The Napalm Girl in Trảng Bàng. My Da didn’t say a word, and as immature as I may have been, I got the message and shut the #%$ up.

    That image haunted me for years, (and, quite frankly, still does, despite a professionl lifetime of dealing with very similar things) and mostly kept me in check throughout my most demanding and self-centered years.

    I’m sure my Dad’s actions would be considered child abuse by today’s standards, but it was one of the most valuable things he ever passed on to me.

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