Garfield, for the uninitiated, is the name of a large tabby cat created by Jim Davis. This cat can eat enormous amounts of food, sleep a load and can turn dieting into a form of self torture. His favourite food is lasagne, his teddy and source of joy and comfort goes by the name Pooky, his frustrated and desperate for female companionship, pet, is Jon Arbuckle and his kicking stump and second fiddle is Odie. This cat has two aims in life, Eat Sleep and Kick the Dog, sprinkled with occasional litter periods and endless cum mindless TV viewing (“attack of the sludge monster” is rated as his pick of the week). He goes about life, with an endless commentary laced with sarcasm and greed, that makes him my philosopher of choice.
He rates exercise, dieting and suicide as three forms of self-torture and is a firm believer of the dictum that round is a shape. His weight is a source of amusement to his household and his nemesis is the cute dwarfed kitten Nermal. His daily schedule features eating, Sleeping and troubling others prominently. His pastimes are to Get Rid of Nermal, destroying the furniture, damaging the ferns, rampage in the garden, gobble little birds, romp in costumes to suit his mood and a cartload of other things we wouldn’t dream of doing. In Jim Davis’s world- Garfield owns his own- he is the centre of the universe for himself and ensures the same for everyone else.
What endears him to me is he accepts himself as a insincere, lazy, greedy slob and doesn’t make a big deal out of it. He admits his faults freely and doesn’t mope over the guilt of eating an extra pizza during dinner even if it means his paws can’t touch the ground. You can only snack between meals is a fact of life that he lives by- he doesn’t regret what he does and simply moves on- his statements like “Life is a game of poker- if you don’t win… you lose” are profound and deep. They are realistic, not sugar-coated to appear cloyingly sweet. His attitude and mannerisms are real- after all which one of us can honestly raise his hand and say I am Good. What Garfield symbolises to me is just the opposite- he’s bad and loves it. He lives life the way we live it- no shortcuts to slim figure, temptations to our palate, hunger for power and success (his show times on the fence where despite incessant pelting, he goes forth in search of elusive stardom), his TV time- hours of mindless viewing with shows like Binky the Clown and reruns of paint drying, dreading approaching Mondays which inevitably turn his world upside down- it’s a true world and he thrives the best way he can- sarcastically!!! To me, Garfield is an epitome of what we human emulate the best- Greed and Selfishness, and he’s candid enough to accept that without hollow apologies and unlikely explanations. He accepts himself as he is- no more; no less. That’s what makes him a legend!!!
Garfield- here’s to your 75th Birthday!!!! Live long, Hog longer, Sleep Better!!!
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