2 days Ago
Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz once said, “Some of my best ideas have come from a mood of sadness, rather than a feeling of well-being.” Until recently, that seemed like an odd quote from the man who created the iconic Peanuts comics, which feature the wholesome Charlie Brown and his sagacious dog Snoopy.
Each time I watch a Peanuts movie or television special, it reminds me that love and friendship are the true keys to happiness. Whether it is Linus eloquently educating Charlie Brown on what “Christmas is all about,” or Snoopy helping Charlie Brown win the school spelling bee, in the Peanuts universe, Schulz created a world where viewers are left with a feeling of comfort -- not sadness. But perhaps Schulz was right.
Maybe sadness does create our best ideas because it forces us to envision how we want the world to be, rather than how it is. And maybe that’s why Schulz included a rather “sad” running gag in the Peanuts comics, to force us to contemplate the sad parts within our own lives. If you are a Peanuts aficionado like me, you already know the gag -- it involves Charlie Brown’s “friend” Lucy holding a football for Charlie Brown to kick.
Time after time, Lucy coyly asks Charlie Brown to kick the football. And each time -- after some persuading by Lucy -- Charlie Brown gullibly and begrudgingly agrees. Yet, just as Charlie Brown is about to kick the football, Lucy always pulls it away, causing Charlie Brown to fall on his back.
The gag ends with Lucy smiling and enjoying Charlie Brown’s mishap. We shouldn’t enjoy watching Lucy pull the football away from Charlie Brown. And we shouldn’t enjoy watching Charlie Brown fall on his back.
However, just like Lucy, in the real world, there are people who enjoy watching other people experience misfortune. There is a unique word for this sensation -- schadenfreude. It is a German word that combines two contradictory terms: “schade,” meaning pity or shame, and “freude,” meaning joy.
It can be best described as that strange sense of satisfaction we feel when someone gets what we believe they deserve. Yet, we are a nation built on relationships. So, schadenfreude is detrimental because it creates a society of “you” against “me,” rather than a society of “us” in a relationship together.
Believe it or not, at some point in our lives, we will all try to kick a football only for someone else to pull that football away. When this happens, do we want others to experience joy at our own expense? Obviously not. So, likewise, we shouldn’t celebrate misfortune when it happens to others.
In this race called life, if one person trips and falls, it does not mean that another person runs faster. So, when someone falls, help pick them back up. And, the next time you watch a Peanuts movie or television special, root for Charlie Brown to kick the football.
Jonathan O’Konek is an attorney, author and Army veteran who lives with his wife and two children in Bismarck. Catch the latest in Opinion.
