QUESTION OF THE DAY #35: What is your favorite cartoon?

Some people think of Saturday morning TV cartoons: Smurfs, Bugs Bunny, things like that.  Others think of comic books: Superman, The Green Lantern, and Spiderman!  I think of the Sunday morning newspaper cartoons.  I could name a couple, but my own favorite would be "Peanuts" by Charles Schultz.  Yes, that's Snoopy up there on my computer screen!

Incredibly intelligent and poignant, still relevant (think of the phrase "wishy washy" for example), and beloved for the television specials, what makes "Peanuts" so interesting for me is how it grew out of Charles Shultz's own childhood.  Promoted one grade after another, he found himself having to cope with peers who were much older.  He felt like an outsider.  He felt like Charlie Brown.  Good grief!

I think for all of us who can relate to feeling like an outsider, Charlie Brown was a hero.  He let us see that lonely part of ourselves in a new light.  We weren't alone in our aloneness any more.  This, of course, is nothing new.  Consider this "good grief" statement of Jesus: "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head." (Matthew 8:20)  Jesus endured loneliness so that in Him, we need never be truly alone.  He has endured all of our griefs, and we can give Him all our burdens, even Charlie Brown-like ones!