The beloved comic strip “Calvin and Hobbes” was a part of my childhood, like many my age. Created by cartoonist Bill Watterson, “Calvin and Hobbes” had a 10-year run from 1985 to 1995. According to Wikipedia, at the height of its popularity, the whimsical strip was printed in more than 2,400 newspapers worldwide.

The antics of the characters, the design and drawing, and the commentary were all on-point and appealed to both kids growing up as I was during its run, as well as the generation of my parents. Besides sports box scores, it was my second-favorite thing to read each morning with my newspaper over breakfast.

Today, the comic lives on, like the good ones do. However, it is a bit unsettling to see its use transformed to the crude, as knockoffs of the strip’s illustration can be seen making all sorts of wild and political statements. If you’ve ever driven behind a large truck with a Calvin-like character urinating on something, you know what I am talking about. It has become the definition of lowbrow humor.

As you’d imagine, Watterson treated this strange phenomenon with humor of his own. After a threat of a lawsuit alleging infringement of copyright and trademark, Watterson wryly commented, “I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo.”

As he has suggested, maybe this crazy phenomenon is Watterson’s ticket to immortality. However, I have a different suggestion. This simple, beautiful quote by Watterson shows his humanity, his vision, his light in a dark world. I stumbled upon it recently and hope you like it as much as I did.

It was part of Watterson’s graduation speech at Ohio’s Kenyon College in 1990. Watterson, who grew up in Chagrin Falls, graduated from Kenyon. Here is the excerpt:

“Creating a life that reflects your values and satisfies your soul is a rare achievement. In a culture that relentlessly promotes avarice and excess as the good life, a person happy doing his own work is usually considered an eccentric, if not a subversive. Ambition is only understood if it’s to rise to the top of some imaginary ladder of success. Someone who takes an undemanding job because it affords him the time to pursue other interests and activities is considered a flake. A person who abandons a career in order to stay home and raise children is considered to not be living up to his potential — as if a job title and salary are the sole measure of human worth. You’ll be told a hundred ways, some subtle and some not, to keep climbing, and never be satisfied with where you are, who you are and what you’re doing. There are a million ways to sell yourself out, and I guarantee you’ll hear about them.

To invent your own life’s meaning is not easy, but it’s still allowed, and I think you’ll be happier for the trouble.”

I immediately was struck by this gentle reminder. Ambition, drive, and goals are good, but so is not getting wrapped up in society’s definition of success. While I try and hold myself to the standard of improvement, I am the only person who lives with me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I can’t fake it to myself — being comfortable in my own skin, with my own purpose is more important than any ladder. When you get to the top, ladders are shaky anyway.

Comics are designed to make us smile or laugh. But the really good ones are also designed to make us think. They are created by people with something to say, like Watterson. Here’s another of his quotes, from “Calvin and Hobbes.”

“We’re so busy watching out for what’s just ahead of us that we don’t take time to enjoy where we are.”

Jeremy Speer is the publisher of The Courier, Findlay, the Sandusky Register, The Advertiser-Tribune, Tiffin, the Norwalk Reflector and Review Times, Fostoria. He can be reached at jeremyspeer@thecourier.com.