2012-02-01
Explanation
This comic explores the philosophical distinction between love and infatuation through a conversation between a father and his young son. The father offers a thoughtful and nuanced explanation: when you love someone, you don't feel the need to think of them constantly but you're always happy when you do; their flaws become something you laugh about rather than something you pretend doesn't exist; and you see them as an equal, not as an idol. The son absorbs this wisdom and says "That's what I thought."
The punchline arrives in the final panel, set "the following Sunday," where the boy is in church raising his hand and telling a priest: "Actually, you're just infatuated with Jesus." The boy has applied his father's framework for distinguishing love from infatuation to religious devotion -- and by the father's own criteria (constant thinking, ignoring flaws, idol worship), the congregation's relationship with Jesus looks more like infatuation than genuine love. The comic cleverly uses a child's innocent literal-mindedness to deliver a pointed critique of religious worship, turning the father's own secular wisdom against the church.