The Peanuts Perspective
When I was a teenager, full of morose and moronic but perfectly normal teenage angst, there was one thing I completely loved
Peanuts.
Not the in-the-ground Jimmy Carter kind. (Although I did love them and still do.)
The comic strip.
I had books and books of Peanuts strips, and often clipped the big Sunday color edition to save.
There was something about Charlie Brown and Lucy and Schroeder and Linus and Snoopy that just made me feel that all those guys really understood me. Charlie Brown understood my awkwardness and fear of failure. Lucy understood my uncontrollable know-it-all-ness. Schroeder my artistic passion. Linus my insecurity and the sweeter side of my nature. And Snoopy of course caught my shameless imagination and desire to write great novels.
To my family, though, I was Lucy.
One morning, I woke up and found that this cartoon had been taped to my bedroom door:
You’d think that being such a crabby person, I would have been livid at the anonymous prank, but I was not insulted. I was delighted. I WAS Lucy.
And no one understands us crabby people.
I left the cartoon on my door for years.
But it did not reside there alone.
About a year later, this Peanuts strip was added. I added it myself:
I did have a little brother. And he did love me.
And with all my adolescent misery, I needed to remind myself. That Life was not so bad. And that my family loved me. They knew I was a crabby person and they loved me anyway.
And I was reminded of this cartoon this week. not just because my family loves me – though they still do.
No, it was the last line.
Every now and then I say the right thing.
Several years ago my husband faced a dilemma. A close friend had called him to ask for a favor. It was a pretty big favor – it entailed a lot of difficult work. The dilemma was that my husband had asked this same friend for some help not that long before. And the friend had refused. The guy didn’t have some great reason for saying no; he just said, “Sorry, I’m busy.”
So my husband was conflicted.
“Why should I help the guy when he didn’t help me when I needed him?” he asked.
I thought it over for quite a while. And that evening I said,
“Maybe this is not about what kind of friend that guy is. Maybe this is about what kind of friend YOU are.”
My husband got up from the table and phoned his friend and offered his help.
And I was reminded of this a few days ago because someone posted the following image on Facebook:
I’m happy for the reminder.
I don’t always say the right thing…
but once in while….
- Posted in: Advice ♦ Humor ♦ kindness ♦ Memories
- Tagged: Charlie Brown, Friendship, Lucy, Peanuts, teenage angst
notquiteold 
Reblogged this on World4Justice : NOW! Lobby Forum..
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I remember when the first sign went up on your door, and I know who put it there, but If you don’t know, I’m not telling.
Christine
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Oh, I am pretty sure I knew who – the other sister in the family.
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I can’t confirm or deny
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You were crabby? Very hard to believe.
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I was just a typical teenager. But I come from a very cheerful family, so I was crabby in comparison.
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I love this Nancy. I was just going through the same thing as your husband so totally relate… come to think of it… I’ve been through that a few times in my life. Thanks for bringing forward the meaning of it.
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I think being good to the undeserving shows us who we are and who we want to be.
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I have heard of Peanuts the comic strip, never read it though but I do like peanuts as in the nut type…………….
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You are Australian, correct? Peanuts was wonderful. A whole story in a few short frames. Check them out on the internet.
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Nancy, I saw that same FB post the other day and was impressed by the wisdom in it. That was some good advice you gave your husband and so glad he followed it. An ordinary person would not have helped the so called friend. Too tempting to dish out the payback.
I have always loved Peanuts. When I lived in a college dormitory, I had a big cutout of Snoopy sleeping on top of his doghouse taped to the wall over my bed.
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Snoopy is epitome of who we all want to be. Cheerful, loving and adventurous.
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and free spirited!
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I was the grumpy one in our family. Dad always said “Good morning sunshine” when I got up which of course I hated. Would love to hear him say that today. Great post.
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My dad always woke up cheeful too! I hated it. And how I miss it now!
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Hi Nancy,,I was on here reading military adverts,I got my eye on your awesome blogs,IS very nice,I really want to get connected to you,This my Email: rchrdbourne@gmail.com Look forward to talk to you
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I don’t agree. You OFTEN say the right thing. There have been many times you have given me an “Ah, ha” moment. Thank you for that.
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Thanks… but I don’t often write about all the things I got wrong…. maybe I should once in a while!
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That’s a really great way to look at it, I’ll try to remember that when I’m feeling tit for tat.
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