I suppose I should wave a SPOILER WARNING for anyone who has not seen It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which I would estimate to be 0% of my readers. If somehow you have not seen that TV special, do

One of the most beloved things in this fine special, one of the most remarked on, most frequently quoted, and even remixed into song, is the simple phrase “I got a rock”, Charlie Brown’s recognition that while all the other trick-or-treating kids were given candy and other sweet foodstuffs, he was given stone chunks.

And it seems so unjust, doesn’t it? Nice ol’ Charlie Brown, does he, of all the kids there, deserve to be given rocks? And this while, in the same trick-or-treating group, fine yummies are being given to Lucy… even though she is both griping and insulting even while in the midst of candy-gathering. “Can I have a piece of candy for my stupid brother?” she asks, following it up with “It’s so embarrassing to have to ask for something extra for that blockhead Linus.” You don’t hear Charlie Brown complaining like that.

You don’t hear Charlie Brown complaining like that because, while Lucy is collecting candy for her younger brother who is sitting out in a pumpkin patch, Charlie Brown makes no such attempt to collect candy for his even younger sister, who is sitting out in that very same pumpkin patch. Lucy is being irritable, irritating, disrespectful… and kind. She may be complaining along the way, but she is putting in the effort, taking care of her little brother. Charlie Brown may be meek, but he is not being similarly kind.

Perhaps he deserves those rocks after all.

(Were I preacher, I think there would be a sermon in this.)

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