If it's such a magnificent day why spoil it for the rabbits?

Snoopy is one of my heroes, and Linus. I'm not so much a Charlie Brown, I don't think. Definitely not a Lucy, nor a Schroeder. My close friends might offer other observations.

I recently had the opportunity to see my friend, Jason, portray Snoopy in You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, for the second time in two years. No mistaking, that boy is Snoopy personified. While I never saw the revival show with Roger Bart, and have only heard the cast album, I still prefer Jason. 

Charles Schulz imbued his characters with a lot of wisdom over the 50 years they originally appeared in newspapers around the world. The original strip was called "L'il Folks," but when offered to United Features Syndicate the name was changed to "Peanuts," a name vehemently disliked by Schulz: "It's totally ridiculous, has no meaning, is simply confusing, and has no dignity—and I think my humor has dignity."

The comic strips ran the gamut of subject matter, from religion to social commentary, and tackled many once-taboo ideas for a daily or Sunday comic strip. The words that came out of the mouths of the characters were adult words and ideas, but they were delivered by pint-sized actors, which made them all the more memorable.

Some of the wisdom:

• Charlie Brown: "Sometimes I lie awake at night, and I ask, 'Why me?' Then a voice answers, 'Nothing personal... your name just happened to come up.'"
• Sally Brown: "I would like to say I enjoyed this first day at school. I realize the teachers have put in a lot of effort, and a host of administrators have worked hard to develop our current scholastic program. The PTA has also done its share as have the school custodians. Therefore, I would like very much to say I enjoyed this first day at school. But I didn't!"
• Lucy van Pelt: "All I need is a little love now and then, but some chocolate will do for now."
• Linus van Pelt: "There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin."
• Rerun van Pelt: "Riding around all day on the back of your mom's bicycle gives you plenty of time to think...it gives you time to think about people and about life...and about what would happen if we ran into a tree!"
• Schroeder: (To Lucy) "Who cares about money?! This is ART, you blockhead! This is great music I'm playing, and playing great music is an art! Do you hear me? An art! (pounding on piano) Art! Art! Art! Art!"
• Peppermint Patty: "Yes, ma'am, a report on the French Revolution. Two thousand words? Yes, ma'am. Please allow four to six weeks for delivery."
• Marcie: (To Peppermint Patty) "You can't play Brahms on a canoe paddle, Sir."
• Frieda: "People hate cats. People hate people who own cats. And people especially hate people with naturally curly hair who own cats."
• Pig-Pen: "I have affixed to me the dust and dirt of countless ages...who am I to disturb history?"
• Violet Gray: "I'll be glad when I can grow up and move out of this neighborhood. I need to see new places, and meet new people. Everyone around here bores me."
• Patty: "It's a lot more fun not inviting people than it is inviting them."
• Shermy: (To Charlie Brown) "I'm the kind who needs to win now and then. With you, it's different. I think you get sort of a neurotic pleasure out of losing all the time."

So, in the writing of this post, I did a lot of reading up on Charles Schulz and Peanuts. One of the more interesting analyses I came across was written by life coach Jim Allen. 

Here are three other analyses, from a decidedly religious vein:

• Dennis Hoover's assessment of the media disconnect on religion and faith in its eulogies of Charles Schulz
• A sermon delivered at the First Unitarian Church of Rochester shortly after Charles Schulz' death; and
• Bob's Comics Reviews

Originally this post was to be a commentary on why should I spoil a perfectly good day by getting out of bed. It meandered, obviously.

It's been almost nine years since the death of Charles Schulz, but his creation lives on.

Here is his final daily strip and his final Sunday strip, published the day after his death from colon cancer in 2000.

I best like what Italian author Umberto Eco said of the Peanuts gang: "These children affect us because in a certain sense they are monsters; they are the monstrous infantile reductions of all the neuroses of a modern citizen of the industrial civilization."

Reading and reflecting back on Charles Schulz' gift to the world has made me feel a bit better, so I think I shall now get out of bed.

(I reference aaugh.com for more complete information on Peanuts and the works of Charles Schulz.)