Calvin and Hobbes: It's O.K. to be Different

Billy Pilgrim is on a spaceship going to Trafalmadore when he goes through a time warp and returns to a memory of when he is 12 years old.  He is exploring the Old West with his parents when they stop at the grand canyon.

""well-" said Billy's father, manfully kicking a pebble into space, "there it is." They had come to this famous place by automobile. They had had seven blowouts on the way. "It was worth the trip," said Billy's mother raptly. "Oh, God-was it ever worth it." Billy hated the canyon. He was sure that he was going to fall in." -Slaughterhouse Five (p.112-113)

Calvin is a young boy going with his parents on a camping trip. They don't tell him where he is going, but when he finds out he does not seem too happy about it.

" "So where are we going? I sure hope we're not camping again this year."-Calvin "Well,we are."-Father "Oh,no! Why do we have to go camping?! I HATE camping! Swatting mosquitoes while lying frozen and cramped on bumpy rocks, with no TV and only canned food to eat, is NOT my idea of a good time."-Calvin "Thats why we brought bug spray"- Father "Look, just let me out here, ok? I'll hitch home and see you when you get back, all right?" -Calvin"- The Authoritative Calvin and Hobbes (p.181)

Aren't these two quotes similar? They are both about a little boy giving his negative opinion about the trip he is on. As soon as I read the passage in Slaughterhouse Five, I immediately thought of my all time favorite comic Calvin and Hobbes.

Calvin is a crazy child who uses big words and LOVES to give his opinion.  Imagine having a child like that. He has an imaginary friend named Hobbes, his stuffed tiger.  Hobbes helps him with his homework, he sleeps with him, goes sledding with him, and even camping.  The friendship that Calvin and Hobbes have is unbreakable.  While Calvin is loud and has no problem expressing himself, Billy is the exact opposite.  Billy seems like a shy little boy who thinks what he feels instead of saying it.  He doesn't seem to have any friends and his only company are his parents.  Imagine having a life like that?

These two aphorisms from different books show the different personalities kids and adults may have.  They are both saying the exact same thing but using different forms. Its ok to be different. Sometimes it is actually better being different.  Imagine a world where everyone is the same.  They would all like the same things, speak the same way, live in the same location, and even look the same. Where is the fun in that? There would be no point in meeting and becoming friends with anyone because you would already know everything about them. There wouldn't be diversity in jobs, hobbies, or languages.  Being different is a good thing because it gives the person a little mystery.  We will never know absolutely everything about a person which leads us to want to get closer to them.

As I mentioned before, Calvin and Billy are very different kids in very different books.  In Slaughterhouse Five, Billy is also very different from the soldiers around him.  "The Germans found him to be one of the most screamingly funny things they had seen in all of World War Two." (p.115)  Many times in the book they refer to him as a skinny man who doesn't have any weapons.  It is possible that the Germans were laughing at him because of his size.  Many of the soldiers who go off to war are normally big and buff, Billy was not. I know that with this paragraph I am contradicting myself when I say, "It's ok to be different." I am actually not.  Yes, people get made fun of when they look different from other people, but it's the personality that counts.