A BAG OF ROCKS

Charlie Brown. The Chosen One

Obviously everyone is familiar with IT'S THE GREAT PUMPKIN CHARLIE BROWN.Of course, Linus waiting for the Great Pumpkin is the major plot point of the story. But to me, the most memorable moment was Charlie Brown and his friends trick or treating. Have you ever noticed something in particular in those three scenes? Lucy, Schroeder, Pig Pen and a couple of others all get candy. Charlie Brown gets a rock.A ROCK!!! Who keeps rocks in their house? Why does everyone in this particular neighborhood have rocks available in their homes? But more importantly, why is Charlie Brown the only participant receiving these rocks? Here's the kicker. He's not even the last one in line!!! They didn't run out of candy and say "Sorry little ghost.We're out of candy. Go ahead and accept this rock instead."

Charlie Brown was always second to last. So I have to come to this conclusion. INTENTIONAL SHAMING. No, I'm not insane. Depressed yes. But I haven't lost my mind. Whoever is reading this, I know the light bulb is going off in your head. It makes sense. Take a minute.Let it wash over you.That feeling you have right now running throughout your body is called ACCEPTANCE.You are accepting the truth. And this doesn't just happen in a popular cartoon. It happens in reality as well. Not literally of course, but figuratively speaking everyone has received a bag of rocks everyday in some form or fashion.

You wake up. Grab a bag by the door and walk outside into a bigger world of rock owners. Overdue bills. That's a rock. You been laid off or fired. That's a rock. You get dumped by your girlfriend or boyfriend. That's a rock. You get it? Any other misfortunes you can think of... Hit by a car. Yelled at by your boss. A bad meal. Turned down for a loan. Somebody actually giving out candy at work, but run out when you find out about it. And so on and so on. The point I'm making, if you ask me what kind of day I'm having and I tell you "I'm having a Charlie Brown day.A bag of rocks." This is something you will be able to relate to.

Thinking more on it, Charlie Brown is an unusual concept for a cartoon. A bald kid, who is not sick, being kicked around by a group of kids who are way too mature for their age. And the soundtrack of their world is jazz.JAZZ!!! Which was great for me because I love that music.But I was a weird kid.I bet Charles Schulz was a weird kid too.

So in closing, if you are a grown up and maybe have kids of your own, enjoy your few years of trick-or-treating together. And if someone wants to be funny or a you know what and put a rock in your kid's bag, please do the adult thing and throw that damn rock through the front window...

Author's Note

Now you know my bad day motto

Reviews

[RacialRainbow]

That was really nice actually, wasn't sure what to expect, but It was def. worth the read.

[sette]

charlie brown is one of my favorite cartoon character but unlike his pet snoopy he tends to be pessimistic and a lot of times feeling miserable that is the reason why he is being bullied by the gang especially Lucy, what makes the cartoon lovable is linus and his security blanket. Just pick up the rocks KC and try to accept what each rock stands for, they are just what makes life a little bit challenging

[Wanaka]

I never really watched Charley Brown, but as soon as you mentioned it I remembered that seen. As a kid I thought nothing of it and now I'm like, "Yeah, why do they give him the rock?".

[The Purple Witch]

I too always thought it was rubbish that Charlie was picked on throughout the show. And I understand having that kind of a bad day. But instead of rocks being handed to me to put in a bag, they're just thrown in my face with evil smiley faces painted on them. This is a brilliant story that I think a lot of people could benefit greatly from reading. :)

[Mrudula Rani]

I loved your outlook on the " A Bag of rocks (of life)". Yes! We all have a bag of rocks,( for some reason the bag is never empty of them)some were given to us by very unkind people, and some we collected ourselves intentionally! I was thinking of lining my garden path with rocks from the bag, but haven't got
enough yet to line even one side of the path! ( you have a wonderful sense of humor, as long as you have that no bag of rocks are going to bring you down) All the best.