Charlie, Lucy and the Football

This is going to sweep across some spiritual, mental and emotional dreamscapes. (Fore-warned is fore-armed.)

Lately . . . off and on . . . a recurrent image from one of Charles Schulz' "Peanuts" cartoon strips keeps lingering in my thoughts.  You probably remember the series where Lucy is holding a football by the tip while Charlie Brown is about to run towards her to punt the ball down field.  Time after time, Charlie Brown eagerly runs down toward Lucy and the football.  

And every single time he does, Lucy swoops the ball out of his way at the last minute.

Over and over Charlie Brown winds up on the ground with a thud, looking up into the sky on his back.

Every time.

Why does Charlie trust Lucy every time?

Why does Lucy always fail him?

Each of us probably has answer(s) to those questions.

The first "Peanuts"comic strip introduced Charlie Brown to the world in 1950.  On November 16, 1952, Charlie Brown flapped over onto his back in pain when Lucy pulled the football away from him for the first time.  (And actually another character named Violet was the first person to let Charlie Brown down in this way -- but only once.)


(I looked it up online.)

So Lucy failed Charlie Brown again and again from 1952 until Charles Schulz' passing in 2000.  From several months before I was born until I was forty-seven.  

From not long after World War II until the beginning of the new millennium.

According to a sportswriter, Schulz used the same theme of foolish hope and disappointment every autumn at the beginning of football season from then on, but not including three falls --- '84, '85 and '90.

Here's the link :

When we were teenagers in the Methodist Youth Fellowship (MYF), we read and discussed a book called "The Gospel According to Peanuts,"  just as some of the adult Sunday School classes did.  

In addition, the author, Robert L. Short, came to our church to speak after one of out monthly potluck suppers.  

(I'm telling you this just to make sure that you know that I don't think I am the first person to use the comic strip to talk about spirituality and/or human behavior.)

But again. 

Why does Charlie Brown keep trusting Lucy?

And why does Lucy continually betray his trust?

My reflections on these problems so familiar in tales of human endeavor and relationships led me to another story often told in pulpits and at various Anonymous meetings.  Surely you have already heard this one:

1.  A guy (or gal) walks down a street and falls into a hole.  A lot of people help rescue the guy. 

(If necessary, please keep reading "guy" as "gal" and change all the relevant pronouns to follow through as you wish.)

2.  Then, the guy goes down the same street again. Once more he falls into the hole, even though he tries to be careful.  A few less people help the guy get out and go on his way.

3.  The guy goes down the street and gives the hole wide berth, but the edge of the sidewalk crumbles, tossing him back into the abyss.  This time no one shows up to help and it takes hours or days.  Filled with discouragement, the guy finally crawls out and stumbles away.

4.  Finally the guy walks down a different street.

(That doesn't mean there aren't holes to fall into on the other streets.)

When the same thought processes and behaviors get me into trouble, or when I look for help (love/approval/sympathy) "in all the wrong places," I find it easy to become depressed and disconsolate.

How about you?

The problem is not just that we are repeatedly thinking or doing the same ol' thangs.  The problem is that we are not seeking the right way of changing to thought patterns and behaviors that lead to healthier conclusions.

By the early '70s, I was reading in self-help books connected to the myriad of "Kathy Harris Self-Improvement Programs" I worked on.  Sometimes the psycho-babble didn't make sense.  I thought that "acting out" was the same thing as "acting up."  

As children or teens, we were accused of "acting up" when we disobeyed rules of our household or threw fits.

I came to understand "acting out" as something very different, although misbehaving may have been part of the behavior described.

"Acting out" was the way my sub-conscious put on a kind of play for my conscious self concerning a problem I had not resolved in a healthy way.

The "play" described a circumstance or a kind of person in my life that I didn't remember.  Or maybe the negative thought processes or behavior was triggered by the wrong way of viewing my self or the people in my life.

The most important revelation I had about that was this:

The attitudes, thought processes and behaviors rooted in the past could not be solved by trying NOT to think that way or not act that way in the present.

Only inner healing of the memories from the past helped.

More to come . . . .