Calvin and Hobbes "ralling" downhill

Here are a couple more cartoons that I took from the wall in my home office while preparing for our move—which, by the way, will indeed be to the Finger Lakes area of New York. The first is one of Bill Watterson’s Calvin and Hobbes. My copy is hardly in mint condition. I clipped it from the Philadelphia Inquirer in 1995, which was the last year he drew the cartoon.

Calvin’s meditation on the meaning of life, or lack thereof, follows in the tradition of philosophers down through the ages. (Although I doubt that many of them did so while racing toward a cliff, accompanied by a stuffed tiger who they alone saw as alive.)

The second cartoon, done by Ted Rall, was taken from Philadelphia City Paper. Its particular focus is on Christmas spending, but I think the overall theme of buying for the sake of buying—consuming for the sake of consuming—is one we’re familiar with 365¼ days per year.