In these dark, dark times, sometimes the best four words one can muster are "Once upon a time..." https://docandraider.com/comic/an-unavoidable-talk-6/ Like a lot of people, I wasnt much of a fan of George Bush Jr.; his solutions to the world's problems were... not even two-dimensional at times. A dimension and a half? Is that possible? Whatever... he had this almost child-like manner about himself, manifesting at the worst possible moments. After all, who can forget his response to 911? "Show the terrorists we're not afraid! Tomorrow, go shopping!" — and of course everyone laughed at such a silly response. Looking back on it years later, I now get his point, as poorly framed as he said it. We cant be victims of someone else's misguided lunacy (not naming names here, but I think you might know who I'm talking about, right?). We can embrace the change we can make and soldier on from the change we cant do a damn thing about. If leaders of certain countries decide to start flinging nukes all over the planet, there's not a whole lot any of us can do to stop them. I know, that sounds terribly fatalistic, right? And I suppose in many ways it is. Bu face it: if the bombs start to fall, our chances of survival are minimal at best — and what will be called "survival" on the other side of it may not be worth it at all. See, here's the thing: we can look at things like bombs falling and do one of two things. Either (1) we worry about something that may not happen anyway, or (2) we just carry on knowing we might as well enjoy whatever we have left. If that means helping someone get through the night by reading them a bedtime story, then sit your little ass down and start reading "Once upon a time...", especially if it's one you've enjoyed yourself eighty-seven times before. You'll enjoy it an eighty-eighth time, they'll enjoy it for the first time, and everyone — for the moment — wins. ... Okay. We've gone to a couple of pretty dark places in these last two storylines, so it's time to lighten things up a bit, right? There wont be a cartoon on Thursday, but we're gonna kick off Friday with something seriously fun....