Cat in the Cartoon

Honoring and praying for presidents past and present

02/17/2025

Mark 8:11-13 The Pharisees came forward and began to argue with Jesus, seeking from him a sign from heaven to test him. He sighed from the depth of his spirit and said, “Why does this generation seek a sign? Amen, I say to you, no sign will be given to this generation.” Then he left them, got into the boat again, and went off to the other shore.

I saw a funny cartoon recently that seemed apropos for Presidents Day. A dog and a cat both arrived in heaven and are sitting on the floor looking at God who is seated on his glorious throne. God first turns to the dog and asks: “How did you live your life on earth?” The dog answers: “I fetched sticks, I obeyed my owner, and I barked at strangers who walked by.”

Then God turns to the cat and asks: “And how did you spend your life on earth?” The cat looks at God and says, “You’re sitting in my seat.” Anyone who owns a dog or a cat knows how true those two answers are. Dogs love to obey others while cats love to order others.

And this little cartoon is related to Presidents Day because in a sense every president feels a little like that cat. Obviously, no United States president is God. Still, the office of the president includes tremendous power – even if limited to the executive branch – and enormous respect (bordering on reverence) by the people, at least those who voted for him.

In other words, like the cat you have to have a pretty big ego to want to sit in the principal seat of the Oval Office. Like the cat in the cartoon the president is there to issue orders, like executive orders, and to run the country.

As you may know, Presidents Day was originally known as Washington’s Birthday, or simply celebrated in honor of George Washington, our first president. But later it was broadened to include all presidents, past and present. This date in February was chosen because it was the Monday closest to Washington’s real birthday on February 22, 1732.

But Presidents Day is also unlike the dog and cat cartoon because all the U.S. presidents have shown a healthy reluctance of serving too long. They tend to agree with the 19th century English historian Lord Acton, who believed: “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” That is, too much power can go to your head and make you lose your sense of being a president.

Hence, after Franklin Delano Roosevelt served 4 terms, the office of president could only be occupied by the same person for two terms. After all, we had fought the Revolutionary War to win freedom from monarchy – the rule of a king – and we did not want to return to that potentially tyrannical form of government.

Perhaps on this Presidents Day it would be helpful to recall another story about animals, not just a dog and a cat, but an entire farm. Back when I was in elementary school, our 8th grade teacher, Nancy Govang (whom I had a huge crush on) read to us a small allegory book called Animal Farm by George Orwell, written in 1945.

It was about a farm in which the animals revolt against their human masters – again kind of like the cat in the cartoon. The animals are led by a pig named Napoleon, who eventually manages to rid the farm of humans and establishes the rule of animals. Their revolutionary motto is: “Four legs good, two legs bad.”

But little by little the pigs in charge start to imitate the humans whom they had evicted. First the animals start to trade crops with their human neighbors. Then the pigs move into the house where the humans lived. Then, they start wearing human clothes and eat at the table where the people had dinner.

Toward the end, two horses are looking through the dining room window where the pigs and people are sharing a meal together. And as the horses looked from the faces of the pigs to the faces of the people, they could not tell them apart. In other words, the pigs had become exactly like the people they had fought to overthrow.

The pigs, therefore, had illustrated the truth of Lord Acton’s proverb: “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Maybe we should hang a plaque with Lord Acton’s proverb over the doors to the Oval Office, and keep a copy of Animal Farm on the Resolute Desk.

In the gospel today, Jesus notices in the Pharisees a little of the spirit of the cat in the cartoon. They demand he perform a sign (a miracle) to prove his divine status. But Jesus refuses to reduce God’s miracles to the level of cheap parlor tricks to amuse dinner guests. You see, the Pharisees wanted to usurp God’s throne and his prerogatives. They wanted to order others, not to obey others, and they certainly did not want to obey Jesus.

Today on Presidents Day, we pray for the men – and perhaps one day the women – who occupy the Oval Office and serve as presidents of the United States of America. May each of them remember where we came from and the wars we fought to get here. And not get so comfortable sitting in the president’s chair that when they get to heaven, they say to God like the cat in the cartoon: “You’re sitting in my seat.”

Praised be Jesus Christ!