For many years now, I have been teaching philosophy. One of my favorite areas is ontology–the study of being as opposed to non-being.
(I can form my hand into a fist, then spread my fingers wide so that the fist immediately disappears. At one point in time was the fist real?)
I recently watched a short film clip in which Charles Schulz was discussing various characters who appear in his comic strips and films. At one point as he was discussing Charlie Brown and all of Charlie’s many problems, Schulz broke into tears. And at that moment, I realized that Charles Schulz felt that all the members of the Peanuts gang are real, actually living people.
And I agree with Schulz. I am quite serious when I say that the fans of this comic strip should nominate Charles Schulz for the Nobel Prize in Literature. He showed profound insight into the nature of the human being. He showed all of us as we really are, and as gently as he could, he asked us all to improve.
