anyone and anything*

We can’t end Happiness 101 without a last nod to Charles Schulz and his radiant young canine, than which happiness is– or can be– more complicated. Obviously.

“I never said that it wasn’t,” protested Mr. Schulz. “But I will defend to my dying day the statement that happiness is a warm puppy… give me a better definition… try to tell me what is more happy than a little kid putting his arms around a warm puppy. If that isn’t happiness, I don’t know what is.” Schulz biographer David Michaelis backs him up in a footnote:

“Playing with a dog appears to increase the level of happiness-inducing hormones oxytocin and phenylethylamine,” according to Men’s Journal, and so does walking with one (according to my own research).

When “Sparky” Schulz finally put down his drawing pen as the millennium (“Y2K”) neared, he’d contributed way more than his share to others’ happiness. In syndication the strip continues to bring daily smiles.

He died on the eve of publication of his last strip. He was a good man who deserved happiness. Or at least a warm puppy.

CHARLIE BROWN:
(Spoken)
I’m so happy. That little red-headed gril dropped her pencil.
It has teeth marks all over it. She nibbles her pencil.
She’s human! It hasn’t been such a bad day after all.

(Sung)
HAPPINESS IS FINDING A PENCIL.

SNOOPY:
PIZZA WITH SAUSAGE

LINUS:
TELLING THE TIME.

SCHROEDER:
HAPPINESS IS LEARNING TO WHISTLE.

LINUS:
TYING YOUR SHOE FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME.

SALLY:
HAPPINESS IS PLAYING THE DRUM IN YOUR OWN SCHOOL BAND.

CHARLIE BROWN:
AND HAPPINESS IS WALKING HAND IN HAND.
HAPPINESS IS TWO KINDS OF ICE CREAM.

LUCY:
KNOWING A SECRET.

SCHROEDER:
CLIMBING A TREE.

CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS FIVE DIFFERENT CRAYONS.

SCHROEDER:
CATCHING A FIREFLY.
SETTING HIM FREE.

CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS BEING ALONE EVERY NOW AND THEN.

ALL:
AND HAPPINESS IS COMING HOME AGAIN.

CHARLIE BROWN:
HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAY TIME AND NIGHT TIME TOO.
*FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT’S LOVED BY YOU.

LINUS:
HAPPINESS IS HAVING A SISTER.

LUCY:
SHARING A SANDWICH.

LUCY AND LINUS:
GETTING ALONG.

ALL:
HAPPINESS IS SINGING TOGETHER WHEN DAY IS THROUGH,
AND HAPPINESS IS THOSE WHO SING WITH YOU.
HAPPINESS IS MORNING AND EVENING,
DAYTIME AND NIGHTTIME TOO.

CHARLIE BROWN:
*FOR HAPPINESS IS ANYONE AND ANYTHING AT ALL
THAT’S LOVED BY YOU.

(The cast filters out, waving “good night” to Charlie Brown, but Lucy stays  and stands in silence for a moment before finally saying:)

LUCY:
You’re a good man, Charlie Brown.

– He smiles, and the lights go down –

Tags: Charles Schulz, Charlie Brown