Ten Years Later

Frank Mariani

Frank Mariani is seasoned (but young-at-heart) artist with over 40 years of experience in the visual arts. Like many of his colleagues, his roots go wayyyy back to childhood where his creativity revealed itself not just in art class, but in the margins and odd free spaces of notebooks, much to the chagrin (and sometimes scolding) of his teachers. When the muse strikes, the hand draws!

Frank Mariani

Today, January 7, 2025, marks the tenth anniversary of the slaughter of 12 people at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical magazine. Among the dead were several cartoonists.

I was speechless, but not without a visual reaction. With apologies to M.C. Escher and BAND–AID®, I cobbled this unpublished editorial cartoon for my Facebook page in 2015.

CARTOONIST, HEAL THYSELF.

The proverb “Physician, heal thyself” is widely interpreted as a scolding that one should take care of one’s defects and not just correct the faults of others. But how immeasurably impractical is that? Personal perfection is unattainable unless you have an outsized ego that says otherwise, but that is a big-time flaw right there. One’s shortcomings should not preclude trying to help others.

My title would have been a message to physically and spiritually wounded cartoonists to mourn and continue to pursue their calling.