The flight from responsibility.....

One thing you're never going to hear coming out of anybody's mouth in this strip is the sentence "I was wrong." I've said this before but it occurs to me that if the Pattersons had it in them to admit that they could be wrong about something, their lives would have been a lot easier. Take, for instance, John. He spent the first few years of his marriage as an uncaring, smug, chauvinistic buffoon. He saw that his wife was clearly unhappy with the way her life had turned out, saw the frustration and despreation building up and did nothing to alleviate it. You see, he couldn't possibly allow her to have a career or anything because his vanity, his need to be Mister King Dentist Man, Lord of the Manor got in the way of what he secretly knew to be right. He put his male ego before his wife's well-being because he was a guy and only his opinion mattered. Gradually, it dawned on him that his need to be Captain Daddy was getting in the way and toned down the stupidity but he still thinks that he was doing what he had to back then. He can't acknoweldge that he was a grade-A jackass because he thinks he'll have to spend the rest of his life apologizing. Not quite, because it takes two to tango. After all, Elly married the idiot knowing what he was. If he were to realize that he was selected specifically because he was an unhelpful, obstructive, demeaning jerk she could complain about, he might realize he was simply a means to an end and be a lot more humble. The way things are now, he's a guy who changed 'cause he had to being forced to endure complaining about the goof he used to be. If he were to find out he was supposed to be a dick so she could get off on all that hot martyrdom action, he might have that flash of clarity I takled about a while back and start questioning the world around him with an especial focus on seeing that his daughters aren't nailing themselves to anything.