2012-09-02
Explanation
This is an unusually long and earnest SMBC comic that takes an inspirational tone. A skull (representing Death) addresses the reader with a series of observations about life and mortality. It begins: "Here is something true: one day you will be dead. Here is something false: you only live once." The comic then explains that it takes about 7 years to master something, and if you live to be 88, you have roughly 11 opportunities to become great at something after age 11. A timeline shows these 11 "lifetimes" marked along a number line.
The comic argues that most people never let themselves "die" -- meaning they never abandon one path to start fresh on another. It shows various characters stuck in their ways: one says "I'''ve just always known I was good at organizing spreadsheets," while another is described as afraid of the reinvention required to try something new. Yet another laments an injury that derailed their basketball career, spending their time mentally simulating a reality that never happened. The comic counters: "But you have many lives." It illustrates someone spending one life writing poems, another building things (including a hoverboard), another looking for facts, and another looking for truth.
The comic concludes with the powerful directive: "These are your lifetimes. USE THEM." The message is that a single human life is long enough to contain multiple complete reinventions, and that people should embrace the possibility of mastering many different pursuits rather than clinging to a single identity.
The votey panel deflates the earnestness with characteristic SMBC self-awareness: someone calls out "Are you in there drawing preachy comics?!" and the cartoonist (Zach Weinersmith) guiltily replies "No!" This is a humorous acknowledgment that the comic is more sincere and motivational than SMBC'''s usual cynical humor, and that Weinersmith is aware his audience might find such earnestness unusual for the strip.