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 (From Count Your Sheep. Click on image to see it full-sized.)
Comics have long upheld a tradition of social commentary. Indeed, the first comics were editorial cartoons (a tradition that continues to this day); poking fun at issues in a quick and easy format that anyone could understand, even the semi-literate. In the late 1800s comic strips started appearing, and became a daily feature of newspapers starting in 1907.
While many comics have drifted away from their socio-political commentary roots, some haven't. Doonesbury, for instance, is renowned for its blatant political agenda (though if you ask Democrats, they'll undoubtedly claim it's got a conservative bent, and if you ask Republicans, they'll claim it's got a liberal bent, which basically shows me that politicians should go get bent). Likewise, when comics went to the internet, it was inevitable that some would comment on sociology and the world around them.
Maybe that's why today's Count Your Sheep is so bittersweet. Here we have a comic that is looking at one of the more horrific natural disasters to hit modern America, and it's not laying blame or pointing fingers. Katie isn't angry at people looting, or police losing heart and quitting in the midst of their city literally drowning around them. Instead... she's angry at water.
Water.
Adrian Ramos goes straight to the heart of the matter here. It's the flooding that is behind everything. If all that flooding hadn't happened... then we'd not have had the looting, the anger, the bitterness. In the eyes of a child... water is to blame.
And so she doesn't want a bath. She's mad at water right now.
I think a lot of people are.
Adrian also lists several organizations where you can send donations and see what you can do to help. Personally, my favorite is the Red Cross. And I know we can't all afford to send money. I can't. But there's one thing almost all of us can do, unless we're on medication.
Donate blood.
Trust me on this. Yes, the initial disaster is over, but as they slowly fix the levees and start draining the flooding (undoubtedly loading all that polluted water into tankers to be filtered elsewhere), there will be other accidents. There will be people hurt, people needing surgery... and blood will be needed. And there is always a need for blood donations.
It'll only take a little time. It's clean and safe to donate blood. Even if you're scared of needles... often the staff, if they know of your fears, can help you through them. And it can save so many lives.
No doubt we'll see more strips about New Orleans and the other communities (oh so many communities, some completely wiped out) that suffered through Katrina's wrath. And some will point fingers... some will mention the devastation... but I don't think any will quite match the simple beauty of a little girl unwilling to take a bath, because she's mad at water right now.
Especially as you know she's going to be taking that bath anyway. Because moms almost always get their way.
Robert A. Howard
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