center
Original: center on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Man with combed-back hair: Hey Steve, how do you stay so upbeat?
Second man (red-haired): You gotta look out for number one, you dig?
Panel 2:
Red-haired man: Personally, I'm found a lot of peace in always myself the absolute rule-er, center of every issue.
Panel 3:
Red-haired man: Like a waiter, I slide. I go straight to thanks. I personally maintain as a maximum and admirable goal, which is being calm and remunerative.
Panel 4:
Red-haired man: When someone else is unhappy, I assume they blame me and that an argument so I can enjoy both the personal indignation and the eventual apology.
Panel 5:
First man: When I hear about bad news in therapy contexts I consider myself solely responsible for their suffering and as their only potential savior.
Panel 6:
Red-haired man: I believe that's called insanity.
First man: Yes that is what everyone else seems to save.
Votey:
First man (face shown close up, frowning): And only I can save them.
Man with combed-back hair: Hey Steve, how do you stay so upbeat?
Second man (red-haired): You gotta look out for number one, you dig?
Panel 2:
Red-haired man: Personally, I'm found a lot of peace in always myself the absolute rule-er, center of every issue.
Panel 3:
Red-haired man: Like a waiter, I slide. I go straight to thanks. I personally maintain as a maximum and admirable goal, which is being calm and remunerative.
Panel 4:
Red-haired man: When someone else is unhappy, I assume they blame me and that an argument so I can enjoy both the personal indignation and the eventual apology.
Panel 5:
First man: When I hear about bad news in therapy contexts I consider myself solely responsible for their suffering and as their only potential savior.
Panel 6:
Red-haired man: I believe that's called insanity.
First man: Yes that is what everyone else seems to save.
Votey:
First man (face shown close up, frowning): And only I can save them.
Alt text
A six-panel comic shows two men talking. One man asks his friend Steve, a cheerful red-haired man, how he stays so upbeat. Steve explains his self-centered philosophy: he looks out for number one, casts himself as the absolute center of every issue, assumes anyone unhappy is blaming him so he can enjoy both his indignation and their eventual apology. The first man counters with an even more grandiose, self-absorbed worldview, framing himself as solely responsible for others' suffering and as their only possible savior. Steve says, "I believe that's called insanity," and the first man agrees, missing the point. In the votey panel, the first man's face is shown in close-up, frowning seriously, as a speech bubble adds, "And only I can save them." The joke contrasts cheerful narcissism with self-appointed messianic delusion.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.