Happy New Year, Charlie Brown (1986) (TV)
Linus van Pelt:
When Leo Tolstoy was writing "War and Peace", his wife, Sonya, copied it for him seven times. And she did it by *candlelight*, *and* with a dip pen. And sometimes, she had to use a magnifying glass to make out what he had written.
Charlie Brown:
Linus van Pelt:
Had to do it after their child had been put to bed, and the servants had gone to their garrets, and it was quiet in the house. Just think, Charlie Brown: she wrote the book seven times with a dip pen. And you're telling me you can't even read it once?
Listen, Linus. I know what you’re doing.
You want Charlie Brown to show some resolve.
The assignment is overwhelming.
The deadline is looming.
You just want your friend to succeed.
But you’re going about it all wrong.
Sure, it’s the time of the year for resolutions and Charlie Brown needs to be resolute; to resolve that he will finish the monolithic tome.
But, Linus, who has ever found the power to push the train uphill purely on inspiration juice pressed from the monumental suffering of others?
If sacrifice and suffering impelled the race to greater feats, humanity would now be deified. Suffering saturates the air we breathe; it clogs news-feed arteries.
Sacrificial dedication based on someone else’s sacrifice? It lacks oomph.
Leo wrote the voluminous War and Peace because he believed it.
Sonya copied it seven times because she believed in Leo.
If Charlie Brown is going to read it through, even once, it will happen because Charlie Brown believes that he is worth more than the “lowest grade you can get without failing.”
Resolve doesn't come from appreciating the enormity of another’s sacrifice.
Resolve comes when you are ready to claim and defend and ever protect that which if washed away would erase you from the human schema.
This is a new kind of responsibility thinking: personal and communal.
Linus, what do you say you and I explore this? I just happen to have a book here with me...maybe we should start here?
Linus van Pelt:
When Leo Tolstoy was writing "War and Peace", his wife, Sonya, copied it for him seven times. And she did it by *candlelight*, *and* with a dip pen. And sometimes, she had to use a magnifying glass to make out what he had written.
Charlie Brown:
Linus, I really...
Linus van Pelt:
Had to do it after their child had been put to bed, and the servants had gone to their garrets, and it was quiet in the house. Just think, Charlie Brown: she wrote the book seven times with a dip pen. And you're telling me you can't even read it once?
Listen, Linus. I know what you’re doing.
You want Charlie Brown to show some resolve.
The assignment is overwhelming.
The deadline is looming.
You just want your friend to succeed.
But you’re going about it all wrong.
Sure, it’s the time of the year for resolutions and Charlie Brown needs to be resolute; to resolve that he will finish the monolithic tome.
But, Linus, who has ever found the power to push the train uphill purely on inspiration juice pressed from the monumental suffering of others?
If sacrifice and suffering impelled the race to greater feats, humanity would now be deified. Suffering saturates the air we breathe; it clogs news-feed arteries.
Sacrificial dedication based on someone else’s sacrifice? It lacks oomph.
Leo wrote the voluminous War and Peace because he believed it.
Sonya copied it seven times because she believed in Leo.
If Charlie Brown is going to read it through, even once, it will happen because Charlie Brown believes that he is worth more than the “lowest grade you can get without failing.”
Resolve doesn't come from appreciating the enormity of another’s sacrifice.
Resolve comes when you are ready to claim and defend and ever protect that which if washed away would erase you from the human schema.
This is a new kind of responsibility thinking: personal and communal.
Linus, what do you say you and I explore this? I just happen to have a book here with me...maybe we should start here?
