Charlie Brown

By Tammy Derouin

I recently went to a Christmas program where the music from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special was played by the students. That unmistakable sound reminded me of a simpler time, childhood.

Try to explain the reality of life prior to cell phones and internet to those who do not know life any other way and you get a blank look or a look of disbelief, possibly followed by an outcry of no way!

There was a time when you had to wait for everything. Patience is fast becoming a lost virtue. The world of technology has provided us with the capability of getting instant result, which comes with many pros and cons. Instant food, news, communication and entertainment does have benefits but we also lose a little too. Lack of patience, short attention spans due to constant stimulation, as well as the inability to use one's imagination, without an electronic device, are on the con side.

Childhood memories are typically filled with the activities you do with friends and siblings. My generation and the generations before me, didn't have the electronics or the world at our finger tips, like we have in today's world. We had to entertain ourselves by being imaginative at a simpler level.

During the Christmas season memories come to mind of those holiday Christmas specials from so long ago. When you think about it, television programs were special because you had to have patience for the next weekly episode. A feeling of anticipation was in the air. A holiday special was an event, a special event, because you had to wait until the actual holiday to see it. If one of life's obligation prevented you from watching the long anticipated special, you had to wait until the following year for it to repeat. There was no such thing as recording it to view at a later time, renting it or pushing a menu button on the TV remote to find it listed for your viewing convenience.

The Charlie Brown Christmas Special is a perfect example of a simpler time. In today's world of lightening fast, everything, Charlie Brown slows life down for a short time. The animation, which is over fifty years old, is much slower as well, but it's the story which forever rings true. Charlie Brown struggles with his lack of happiness during the Christmas season. He slowly realizes that Christmas has become commercialized and that the focus has become selfishness, even among those closest to him. Eventually, he is reminded of the true meaning of Christmas and why we celebrate.

I've developed a fondness, over the years, for the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. What is considered a joke in meaning when describing a sparse or lack luster tree has become a symbol of nostalgic simplicity for me. A large, beautiful tree is pretty to look at and there is certainly a sense of pride if you were the one who accomplished such a masterpiece. But, there's a certain type of smile which only creeps up on one's face when a tree of modest means is proudly displayed.

As I listened to the program, the music took me back to a time when things seemed a little less complicated. The Charlie Brown Christmas Special does a wonderful job of reminding us of why it is important to remember the reason we celebrate Christmas. Sadly, with every passing year, the true meaning of Christmas seems to get lost in the push for a more secular celebration. Secular celebrations would not exist without the true meaning of Christmas.

Our Christian-Judaeo heritage is being forgotten. Our life of freedom would not exist without the birth of Christ. Our founders wanted to keep government out of the church not keep God out of the government or our lives in general. God and Christianity is part of our foundation as a nation. If we loose sight of that, we will be lost forever.

Our freedom had a modest, simplistic beginning. The King of Kings born in a stable and placed in a manger. The world would be forever changed as life began anew and was filled with hope with the birth of our Lord and Savior. Thankfully, there are still places in our society which still recognize our heritage and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas, even in a modest, simplistic way. Our freedom would not be possible without the birth of Christ followed by the events throughout history which would lead to the founding of the United States. It all began in a modest stable and a massive star shinning brightly.

“I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.”

Linus