For 10 wonderful years, the cartoonist Bill Watterson blessed the world with his loveable, award-winning comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes,” following the escapades of Calvin, a 6-year-old boy, and his (imaginary?) pet tiger, Hobbes. The names of the two protagonists, which are inspired by 16th-century theologian John Calvin and 17th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes, reflect the comic strip’s underlying philosophical leanings. Hobbes tries but often fails to be the voice of reason to Calvin’s endless antics. Such is the case in the strip from which this quote is taken, which finds Calvin and Hobbes careening down a slope (and ultimately off a cliff) in a little red wagon while Calvin tells his friend to appreciate the moment. He observes, “Often it takes some calamity to make us live in the present.” Wise words indeed — though in that case, the timing was perhaps less than ideal.