Hi
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
I watch it almost every year. I don't want to say every year because when I was drinking, who knows what the fuck I was watching.
Anyway, I've noticed that I'm beginning to see some of these familiar stories differently. Stories I've watched for decades are revealing something I hadn't noticed before. Or maybe I'm just seeing them through a different lens. And this year, Charlie Brown got to me.
For those of you who haven't watched It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, there's a scene where Charlie Brown and his friends go trick-or-treating. Charlie Brown has made his own ghost costume out of a bedsheet. Unfortunately, he had a little trouble with the scissors and cut too many holes in it.
It's ridiculous, and it's funny.
I used to laugh at that costume. I still do. But now I see something else. I see a little boy who did his best to make a costume. It didn't turn out quite the way he intended, but he put it on anyway. He showed up. He participated. He went trick-or-treating with his friends, just like every other kid.
And then something happens.
At each house, the children compare what they've received. One gets candy. Another gets gum. Someone gets a popcorn ball. And Charlie Brown?