What Kind of a Story is That?

"Peanuts", the widely syndicated cartoon strip written and illustrated by Charles Schulz, ran for 50 years (1950-2000). It was "among the most popular and influential in the history of comic strips, with 17,897 strips published in all,[1] making it "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being".[2][3] At the time of Schulz's death in 2000, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of around 355 million in 75 countries, and was translated into 21 languages".

There was one strip that I can't forget the gist but not the dialogue exactly. Charlie was telling Lucy a story and since I can't really recall how it went I will make one up.

Charlie: "The Halloween monster was running after me. I knew it was because I too was running.  I ran as fast as I could. And it ran just as fast".

Lucy: "What kind of a story is that?"

Okay, but I do recall Lucy's question exactly.  "Peanuts focuses entirely on a social circle of young children, where adults exist but are never seen and rarely heard". 

Charlie Brown's little story above is not as uncommon as in our real world. I recall someone telling me this little snippet:

"I don't know about the breadfruit.  It's not bread and I wouldn't call it a fruit either. I mean a fruit is something you can pick from a tree branch that you can eat outright, right?  I wouldn't say that about the breadfruit. So, who named it that way?"

When someone says something like that, we can't add anything much to it or care to, assuming we know much about breadfruit, except perhaps, as a rejoinder, we can  ask, "Well, how about the grapefruit.  Clearly, it is not a grape .."  Then you realize you find yourself in the same position because you don't really know where to go with it. 

Now, how often do we find that the stories and behavior of the Peanuts characters do mimic adulthood, sometimes in funny ways and in some cases, we find awkwardly more embarrassing or lacking as much sense that the "Lucys" of our world find pleasure in putting down with the suddenness and acerbic wit that the Peanut character manages with so much sarcasm and pain.

Yes, that's right. We know a Charlie Brown, a Linus, even a Snoopy. Sadly, we know a Lucy too. At work, among family and friends, and in society , in general. She or He is that innocent looking face, naturally quick witted but there is not one ounce of gentleness when they so choose.  They are notoriously of little use as a co-equal at work, and terribly more so as a boss.

But, Lucy!

Well, by the time we were born there was not much choice but to go by what stories there were already before we arrived. In fact, your story, mine and everyone else's begin with prologues of what were before ours could begin. Then we live it and soon there is the epilogue.

Lucy actually had a probing question to ask all of us. What kind of a story have we written for ourselves.  Or, what kind of story do we want to tell. Life is after all a story. Come to think of it, life is every moment a story.

Anyone who has ever applied for a job - who hasn't? - has to tell a story about who he or she is, what they've accomplished and what they have to offer.  The interviewer or hiring manager tells a story about the company, about the business and the applicant must have a convincing story worthy of a job offer.  Lucy had a point.  The interviewer, the decision maker, and ultimately the company has the right to know what kind of a story do you have.

Readers of Peanuts know to ignore the advice Lucy dispenses because they are invariably useless. However, the reader is not able to dismiss Lucy's put downs or her outbursts.

Courtship, like friendship, also begins with a story. Marriages begin with a story.  How it survives and flourishes depends on how consistently each in the partnership had kept to the story they told in the beginning.  

The strip-episode above, while it is more about the coming season, we learn from it that every relationship, friendships and marriage in particular, must be more about giving.       Wow, indeed!

Inevitably, each of our life's epilogue will then be about, "What kind of story do we want to be remembered by?"