Calvin and Hobbes Philosophy

[ozleicester]

Just seen some in another thread... As a lover of Calvin and Hobbes, i thought it might be good to have a thread...

 

Edited 31 December 2021 by ozleicester

[KingsX]

HOBBES, Oz, HOBBES!

 

Being named after a philosopher and all...

[Sampson]

[Trav Le Bleu]

Love Calvin and Hobbes.

 

Early in the pandemic I decided I'd find out which cartoons I didn't have and get them all.

 

It was a sad day when I read the last one, especially as Bill Watterson deliberately wrote as a final cartoon.

 

[KingsX]

Bill once came back to our alma mater to deliver the commencement address.  I’ll offer this as a window into his philosophy:

 

We all have different desires and needs, but if we don't discover what we want from ourselves and what we stand for, we will live passively and unfulfilled. Sooner or later, we are all asked to compromise ourselves and the things we care about. We define ourselves by our actions. With each decision, we tell ourselves and the world who we are. Think about what you want out of this life, and recognize that there are many kinds of success.

Many of you will be going on to law school, business school, medical school, or other graduate work, and you can expect the kind of starting salary that, with luck, will allow you to pay off your own tuition debts within your own lifetime.

But having an enviable career is one thing, and being a happy person is another.

Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it's to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered not to be living up to his potential-as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth.

You'll be told in a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are, and what you're doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you'll hear about them.

To invent your own life's meaning is not easy, but it's still allowed, and I think you'll be happier for the trouble.

 

If you're interested, the whole thing is at:  https://web.mit.edu/jmorzins/www/C-H-speech.html

 

p.s. he also recalls painting Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" from the Sistine Chapel on his dorm room ceiling

 

Across campus, my roomie and I paid a frat brother a case of beer to paint Spider-Man on our wall.  We were proud of that.

 

Therein lies the difference, I guess.