Charlie Brown...

I'm sure there will be a day when the name "Charlie Brown" doesn't automatically bring up pictures of the nation's childhood. I'm sure that when I have grandchildren, they will remember it as a strip from long ago, not something in the vernacular of the society. That said, I think that Scott Kurtz hit the nail on the head with his strip this week.

Everyone feels like Charlie Brown from time to time; The lovable boy that never got mail in his mailbox, or had their own personal Lucy pull the ball out from underneath them at the last minute. So many of these pictures I don't even have to close my eyes to see. Days like yesterday, with the Club Live garbage, definitely made me feel like the lovable looser that can't seem to get a bone to chew on, let alone make it big. Thing is, I'm not Charlie Brown, I get to kick that football every so often. I get to feel that joy. Scott did a great job by letting Cole "kick the ball" every so often, because it makes Cole more real. He gets to not just be a consummate lovable looser, but a person.

As I've grown older, franchises like Peanuts and Garfield have become less a part of my life. Mostly I feel like they are marketing cliché's; created in order to make the author money, not for the joy of the character. They became indentured servants of the creator, forced to go through their "life", being documented, never getting to have a full set of emotions or expressions, but instead to live out the same experiences and never grow. You know, a comic strip sitcom, or soap opera. These always make me feel empty, like eating cotton candy; it tastes good, but in the end you don't feel full.

Maybe I need to start writing more about when I kick the ball, instead of just random thoughts. I know that I get to more often than I realize. The focus would do me good.

“The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”

Charles Swindoll