A Little Boy and His Tiger...

I actually called in sick today so you will be spared a nonexistent commute story today. Yes I know you're all cheering over there. Instead I thought I'd share something near and dear to my heart...

And rather than sharing a quote...A picture is worth more...

Calvin and Hobbes. Such innocent truth. Apparently I've been to hell and back(or possibly heaven and back).

CALVIN AND HOBBES

Now if you know me, you know I am absolutely obsessed with Calvin and Hobbes. It's kind of funny when I think about it. I'm a 22 year old man who loves a comic strip(that now ended 10 years ago) about a six year old boy and his stuffed tiger(a tiger that is only alive and real in Calvin's mind alone).
Now why do I love Calvin and Hobbes? I can sum it up in a single word.

Innocence.

There's an amazing innocence that permeates every drawing that Bill Waterson has created for Calvin and Hobbes. The way that Calvin views the world. The way he boldly states his observations. The way he plays. The way he interacts with others. The way he loves. And all that innocence penultimately is manifested in a tiger that is no more than a plush doll to the rest of the world, but a true and living best friend, who's more real than anything else in Calvin's mind.

Calvin is 6. Though Calvin may have the intelligence and knowledge of any one of us, in fact maybe more so than some of us, he lacks the experience that we who've been able to live a few more years past 6 have. It's experience that has jaded us to the things that are innocent and true. Experience that convinces us to accept lies and half truths. Experience that has hurt us. Experience that compels us to lie and decieve each other and hide behind false fronts and masks. Experience that has taught us to keep things to ourselves and to not be bold. Experience that cripples us.

Now Calvin maintains his innocence. He's able to make bold statements, that are completely logical, but his questions and statements are rebuffed by the reality of the world around him. There is a stark gap between what Calvin is able to often observe and what we percieve as reality. With both being true, it makes Calvin confounded and believe that grown ups are strange in their thinking. Honestly, what I wouldn't do to be like that and forget everything I've learned growing up about pain and loss and suffering and the realities of the world we live in. To see solutions in simple black and white again, rather than the gray area that basically colors every aspect of society.

I love how Calvin plays. How every moment of life is meant to have fun. Where rules are made to be broken, and new rules are always being made. How Calvin absolutely has no fear in anything he does. Whether its messing up the house, or taking his sled down as steep a slope as possible. Everything is fair game as long as its innocent fun. Even if it's creating demented snowmen come winter time. =)

Calvin's imagination knows no bounds. Whether he's Spaceman Ziff or terrorizing and stomping over a miniature city he's created, he lets nothing stop him.

ENDEARING FRIENDSHIP

But the thing that gets me the most really is his relationship with Hobbes. Hobbes is Calvin's best friend. A stuffed tiger that is there for him and makes him feel secure when he's afraid the monsters under his bed are gonna get him at night. Someone who will engage with him in all his silly games. Someone who will scheme with him. Someone who balances out all his impetuousness. Someone who will pounce on him as soon as he gets home. It's an innocent love between two friends. A friendship that is free from deciet, from lies, from falsehood. A friendship that is open and true, that is free from condemnation and hurt, but always full of loving support and comraderie. It's a friendship I think most of us would be envious of, but would feel foolish to believe could exist. After all, its all trapped inside the imagination of a six year old, who hasn't experienced what we've experienced. A child who's yet to be jaded.

I certainly wish I could think like Calvin. I wish I could play like him. Love like he does. And certainly have the friendship he shares with Hobbes. But unfortunately I'm a few years beyond 6. And I've got my fair share of jading from my experiences in life.

Now Hobbes is the epitome of all of Calvin's innocence. To Calvin's parents, teachers, and friends, Hobbes is nothing but a stuffed tiger that Calvin drags around everywhere. To Calvin, Hobbes is real enough to be caught with a tuna fish sandwhich, to talk to whenever he needs to and whenever he doesn't need to, and someone to hug when he's hurt by the reality of the world.

WHO IS HOBBES?

I think Hobbes represents everything we lose as we grow up. The things we see and experience that make us accept the half truths of percieved reality. Everyone else around Calvin can't see Hobbes for who Hobbes is. They only see Hobbes for what he is. We all lose Hobbes at some point in our life when we stop believing in him. When we give into what everyone else is telling us.

Well for Calvin...Hobbes is as real as long as Calvin believes Hobbes is real. And as long as Calvin believes that, he doesn't have to believe anything else that anyone says about Hobbes. And as long as Calvin believes Hobbes is real, there will always be someone to pounce on him everyday when he comes home from school.

I guess I lost my Hobbes and I love Calvin and Hobbes because it makes me remember what it was like to be innocent again and be unrestricted and to be full of possibilities. I guess it inspires me to find my own Hobbes again. Or at least hope.