An ode to Charlie Brown

The Peanuts Movie exhibited in the cinemas two years ago served as a reminder of the debt of gratitude that humankind owes to the likes of Charles Shulz. The late Shulz was not a mere cartoonist; he was also a philosopher par excellence. The world today could do with a few more of his kind.

How one misses Charlie Brown! For one thing — with his inimitable style of doing things — he would have found a way out of the mire, the Land of the Pure, and the world in general, finds itself in. What our region of this blessed planet lacks at the moment is a dash of no-holds-barred sense of humour, a la Charlie Brown. We as people are fast losing the capacity to laugh, particularly at ourselves — a sure-shot recipe for disaster.

Charlie Brown was not just a cartoon strip character. He had a personality that was way taller than any character in or out of a cartoon strip. One outstanding quality of Charles Shulz was his uncanny understanding and appreciation of human nature. This he brought to bear on the little characters in his strip. Each of the Peanuts characters stood out as a distinct and characteristic individual, with his or her peculiar traits painstakingly etched out much as in an old master’s painting.

Shulz was something of a pioneer in a world teeming with professional gag writers and hired artists. He possessed a profound sense of humanity: few can match the humanism that he infused in his characters. Regrettably, he was also one of the last of a dying breed. As it is, humour is fast losing its rugged homespun character; falling prey to expediency in a world addicted to mass production. One has witnessed in horror haute cuisine being afflicted by the virus of fast food. The comic strips too are suffering a similar fate. Both are fast losing their wholesome flavour.

Looking at things in a broader perspective, one cannot help noticing that the world at large is fast losing its sense of humour. Humour, that once provided a cushion against the rigours of life, is being systematically drained out of our lives. This is perhaps a necessary corollary of the technological revolution. It may sound strange, but the more one is technologically advanced the less one is prone to laugh.

The so-called modern humour hardly measures up. It is, in effect, laced with a melancholy of sorts. Laughter, too, lacks the spontaneity that was once its raison d’etre. One may be forgiven for being appalled at the thought of a world devoid of the likes of Charles Shulz. And yet, it may well come about. There is little that one can do about it.

Man is the sole creature on earth endowed with the capacity to laugh. This is the singular quality that sets humankind apart from the animal world. This is a quality that the former would be well advised to hold on to. The consequences of a world shorn of humour are simply too horrible to contemplate. Man’s ability to laugh at himself is the one attribute that helps him retain his sanity given the crazy world one is condemned to live in. Sense of humour, then, is the key to a sane future; one that can see a person through the darkest of days. When people lose their collective sense of humour, they also lose the will to survive. Nations begin to die when apathy sets in. The world has survived the severest calamities, both natural and man-made. The loss of the capacity to laugh is one that humankind may not survive.

The world owes a debt of gratitude to the Charles Shulzs of this world. They taught humankind to laugh through its tears. Charlie Brown — not Superman — is the real hero humankind should be looking up to. It takes little courage to stand up to evil if you possess superpower. It is the Charlie Browns of this world, who, despite their evident shortcomings, refuse to give up through emotional ups and downs that remain the real heroes of the times. If only society would give them due recognition. As Charlie Brown would say “Oh, Good Grief!”

Published in The Express Tribune, October 24^th, 2017.

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