I don’t often admit that I cry. I imagine I was brought up to believe that crying is unmanly. But I cried the day Charles Schulz died. I felt as if I had just lost a close friend, though I had never actually met or talked to this man.
I think Schulz died, in part, because he had given so much of himself (imagination, intellect, spirit and soul) to the creation of the “Peanuts” gang–Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy, Linus, etc.
Charlie and his friends were unreal. Or were they? Perhaps, in a basic sense, they were more real than any of us.
Thank you, Mr. Schulz, for being one of the finest, most humane teachers I have ever encountered. Humor can overcome almost any sorrow.
I regret that Charlie’s softball team will never lose another game. I regret that Charlie himself will never fall on his head again trying to kick Lucy’s football.
