Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for February 05, 1986

hobbes, good insight!

Calvin asks about destiny, Hobbes’ response is about actions. Not the same thing! I refuse to call my act of eating a breakfast burrito my “destiny”. Not to be all high and mighty. I mean, it was a cheesy burrito.

doesn’t destiny control your actions?? cheesy burrito indeed.

Well if you believe in destiny…

It’s possible that destiny, if there “is” such a thing, only influences action, rather than being the determining factor.

bill watterson was a philosopher. destiny is things we cant determine with actions.

other peoples actions actions influence ones destiny. if we indirectly effect our lives with our actions that too could be considered destiny.

examples. being born is destiny, being a boy is also destiny. calvin is the boy of destiny.

I dint get this one.. why does he refer to not wanting to listen to his mom and dad about destiny?

It is because, as parents, they are always telling him what he can and cannot do. Destiny, meaning ones fate is predetermined by other worldly forces, is used as a comparison/metaphor to that parental ‘dictatorship’ that Calvin so detests.

Since we have been given free will, I agree with Hobbes: our impulses and feelings may affect short-term choices, but we can shape our destiny by our committed choices. And one of the greatest human gifts is the ability to choose what we want to do with our lives.

That only applies to you, Calvin.

yeah!

I’m pretty sure he already knows.

Thankfully I had lunch so that doesn’t make me hungry.