We Have Met The Enemy

Walt Kelly was the creator of a fabled comic strip named “Pogo.” Pogo was a possum who lived with his friends in Georgia’s Okefenokee Swamp, and though his most famous cartoon appearance was printed during the Nixon Presidency, its truth is as clarion today as it was those decades ago.

Pogo and his friend “Porky Pine” are walking through the swamp when Porky Pine says, “Ah, the beauty of the forest primeval gets me in the heart.” Pogo answers, “It gets me in the feet.” The cartoon reveals that their home is full of trash, broken bottles, and garbage.

Porky Pine replies, “It IS hard walkin’ on this stuff.” Then Pogo delivers his most famous line: “Yep, we have met the enemy, and he is US.” Walt Kelly, via Pogo, diagnosed the cause of the majority of our society’s troubles. It is “us,” not “them.” Our trouble is much closer…