My Life with Charlie Brown

Commencement Address at Saint Mary’s College

26 Commencement Address at Saint Mary’s College i would like to use a text from Romans 8:26 as a basis for my thought this morning. “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for words.” Saint Mary’s College is to be complimented for its courage. It is probably the only college in the country which has invited a comic strip artist to be its Commencement Day speaker. I take this as not only a great personal compliment, but also a great compliment to a profession that is not always treated so well. There is great tendency to downgrade some of the professions that make up the list of what we sometimes call the lively arts, and the comic strip is usually placed at the very bottom of that list. In spite of this, about ninety million people read the funnies every day, and take them quite seriously. I must admit that I am always amazed at the public response to some of the episodes in Peanuts. During the past few months I have been receiving letters from people who have either fought the Red Baron in Sopwith Camels or are very familiar with the areas around the front lines where Snoopy always gets shot down. A few weeks ago I received calls from people around the country begging to have Linus and Lucy move back into the neighborhood. I told them that I had no control over the company that was transferring Linus’ and Lucy’s father to a new city. One Sunday morning, however, we 27 Commencement Address at Saint Mary's College stirred up some trouble that I absolutely never anticipated. In the paper that came out that morning Charlie Brown and all his friends were playing croquet. Lucy had just hit Charlie Brown’s ball, and had driven it a couple of blocks down the street. In fact, she had hit it so far that the last panel showed Charlie Brown standing in an outdoor telephone booth. He was saying, “Call me when it’s my turn. The number is 343-2794.” Now, when I thought of drawing this page, I had intended to put in my own telephone number. However, I thought of a better idea. I have a very close friend who lives in Burlingame. He is the producer of our animated television shows, and he loves to talk to people on the phone. This was a natural! Why not put his number in the comic strip? Well, on that fateful Sunday morning the telephone rang the first time at six o’clock. It continued to ring steadily until past nine o’clock that evening, and each time it was answered, voices of different ages would say, “It’s your turn, Charlie Brown.” Another Sunday page that stirred up considerable interest is appropriate today because it has to do with visions, hopes, and dreams. Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Linus are lying on top of a small knoll looking up at some puffy clouds floating across the sky, and Lucy says, “If you use your imagination, you can see lots of things in the cloud formations . . . What do you think you see, Linus?” “Well, those clouds up there look to me like the map of the British Honduras on the Caribbean . . . That cloud up there looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor . . . And that group of clouds over there gives me the impression of the stoning of Saint Stephen . . . I can see the Apostle Paul standing there to one side . . .” “That’s very good,” says Lucy. “What do you see in the clouds, Charlie Brown?” “Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie, but I’ve changed my mind!” During this past week, speakers on campuses all across the country have been talking to graduates about many subjects. When 30 My LIfe we did the Christmas show for television last year, we wanted to do something that would show the children’s search for the true meaning of Christmas, and after days of pondering, I finally decided that every idea we had was an idea that really avoided the essential truth which was that the...