A story is told about a boy named Sparky. For Sparky, school was all but impossible. He failed every subject in the eighth grade. He flunked physics in high school. Receiving a flat zero in the course, he distinguished himeself as the worst physics student in the school’s history. Sparky also flunked Latin, algebra and English. He didn’t do much better in sports. Although he did manage to make the school’s golf team, he promptly lost the only important match of the season. There was a consolation match; he lost that, too.
Throughout his youth, Sparky was awkward socially. He was not actually disliked by the other students; no one cared that much. He was astonished if a classmate ever said Hello to him outside of school hours. There’s no way to tell how he might have done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl to go out with him in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down.
Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates… everyone knew it. So he rolled with it. Sparky had made up his mind early in life that if things were meant to work out, they would. Otherwise he would content himself with what appeared to be his inevitable mediocrity.
However, one thing was important to Sparky – drawing. He was proud of his artwork. Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of high school, he submitted some cartoons to the editors of the yearbook. They were turned down. Despite this particularly painful rejection, Sparky was so convinced of his ability that he decided to become a professional artist.
Upon graduating from high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was told to send some samples of his artwork, and the subject matter for a cartoon was suggested. Sparky drew the proposed cartoon. He spent a great deal of time on it and on all the other drawings he submitted. Finally the reply came from Disney Studios, he had been rejected once again. Another loss for the loser.
So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons. He described his childhood self – a little-boy loser and chronic under-achiever. The cartoon character would soon become famous worldwide. For Sparky, the boy who had failed every subject in the eight grade and whose work was rejected again and again, was Charles Schulz. He created the “Peanuts” comic strip and the little cartoons boy whose kite would never fly and who never succeeded in kicking the football – Charlie Brown.
By Brian Cavanaugh, T.O.R., The Sower’s Seeds
Charles Monroe Schulz (1922-2000), nicknamed Sparky, was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Peanuts (which featured the characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, among others, during 1959-2000). He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of all times, cited as a major influence by many later cartoonists, including Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson.
The US Postal Service issued new stamps in Sept. 2022 to salute the centennial of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz (1922–2000) whose Peanuts characters are some of the best known and most beloved in all of American culture. For five decades, Schulz alone wrote and drew nearly 18,000 strips, the last one published the day after he died. His resonant stories found humour in life’s painful realities including rejection, insecurity and unrequited love. Image courtesy: https://sandboxworld.com/