Jimmy Gownley is a cartoonist who cares. With ‘Amelia Rules!’ he set out to create a comic with classic comic strip sensibilities that did not talk down to kids. His success at this is overwhelming. Jimmy is a co-founder of Kids Love Comics!, an organization that promotes literacy through comics. Something I can certainly relate to and support.

The reason I began this post by introducing Amelia and Jimmy to you is because, obviously, I think they are incredible. But also because a story in the fourth volume, ‘When the Past is a Present‘ really hit home for me. The story is called ‘The Things I Cannot Change’. This is a story of how one of the kids in Amelia’s school is dealing with her father being sent to war.

Lately, I have been putting in a loooot of hours preparing for inventory at the store, and I was feeling a little down in the dumps about that. Fifteen hour overnight shifts don’t leave much for family time, and I could tell that it was hitting my two year old pretty hard. I explained to her that work was how I got money for toys and food. She pushed me out of the door that night, but I still felt terrible.

I then read ‘The Things I Cannot Change’ and it put things in perspective for me. At least I wasn’t getting deployed. My family wasn’t seeing me as often as I’d like, but they were seeing me. I was still tickling the two year old at least once a day! My heart has always gone out to the men and women fighting for our rights, but sometimes it takes a reminder that my own life isn’t as bad as all that. Amelia reminded me in a way that I hadn’t felt in a long time. And then she made me laugh, which is a wonderful thing.

As previous posts have indicated, I really make every attempt at staying positive. I don’t see a need to stress because that just locks me up and keeps me from taking care of the business at hand. But sometimes, I do let things get to me. At these times when most people feel like picking up a bottle, I reach for a comic book. Boy, did I pick up the right one this time!