Moms and Dads

6 Life Lessons We’ve Learned From Charlie Brown

by Kevyn Gohu
January 28, 2022

We remember Charlie Brown from our favorite comic, Peanuts, who was voiced by the late Peter Robbins and written by the late Charlie Schulz.

We remember the Peanuts comic because the kids reminded us of maybe our own children or ourselves. From the brilliant Linus, the self-indulgent Lucy, to everyone’s lovable dork Charlie Brown, each character would light up our days in their own special way. As we remember the one who brought Charlie Brown to life, the late Peter Robbins, we recall the life lessons the loveable dork has left us behind.

1. It’s okay to be average

Charlie Brown was nothing special. While Linus had his brains and Lucy had her confidence, Charlie Brown didn’t have much. The only thing he did have was bad luck and failures. But the author, Charles Schulz wrote him that way on purpose. He said in an interview, “Charlie Brown must be the one to suffer because he’s the caricature of an average person”. We always tell success stories but never the journeys filled with failures from which we can learn.

2. Kindness goes a long way

Although Charlie Brown wasn’t an outstanding hero like most main characters, he had a big heart. He had a sense of compassion to help anyone despite knowing he might fail. He often extended his kindness and help even to those who bullied him like Lucy, the older sister of his best friend — Linus. Especially during traumatic times, we find it difficult to extend our kindness. We have that nagging thought that sometimes, it will be taken advantage of. But that was a risk that Charlie Brown always took. Maybe there were times that he didn’t get the results he wanted. But, he always did his best to communicate his kindness in whatever way he could.

3. Procrastination sometimes can’t be helped

Unfortunately, Charlie Brown’s preference to procrastinate always puts him at risk to fail. It’s also why many considered him “wishy-washy” as a character. But that’s what made him so relatable to us. Sometimes, we end up procrastinating because there are just too many things to think about. We get so overwhelmed from micromanaging everything that we sometimes end up avoiding it altogether. There is no shame in taking the time off to relieve the distress but sometimes, we just have to face the music when the time does come.

4. Never take your pain out on friends

As the caricature of the average person, Charlie Brown did unleash his frustration every now and then. However, he never did take it out on friends. He expressed it in a way that didn’t hurt anyone. Even Snoopy, his ever-faithful companion, never became the receiving end of his frustration. Usually, he would just say “Good grief!” but he always owned up to it. Something that we ought to always do even if we’re disciplining our kids and it doesn’t happen the way we planned.

5. Just do it.

Although always scared and insecure, Charlie Brown still did things anyway. Whether it was his first attempt to fly a kite or learn how to dance, he tried anyway despite the possibility of failure. We often let this fear control us because we feel the glass ceiling crushing us from above with the weight of others’ expectations or we feel we don’t have enough space for mistakes. But like Charlie Brown, sometimes we just have to go through it. We may not have a good luck streak all the time but we’re certainly not plagued with bad luck 24/7. So try. As Yoda from Star Wars says, “There is no try. Only do.”

6. Laugh whenever you can

Even in the face of failure, Charlie Brown always found a way to laugh. It was what made him so lovable to us in the first place. Although he did get serious about things, he always found a reason to laugh. When the pandemic drove us into a corner during the early 2020s, some of us did lose our ability to laugh. We focused so much on survival that we lost our ability to live. But now with things slowly looking up with vaccinations rolling out for our kids and boosters for us, there’s no reason for us to not try to laugh in Life again.

We love you, Charlie Brown! Thank you, Peter Robbins.

Charlie Brown taught us a lot and it was through Peter Robbin’s talent as a voice actor brought him to life. Charlie Brown may not be someone who everyone aspires to be but he is someone relatable. Everyone, even celebrities, have a Charlie Brown within them who keeps on going despite the odds being stacked against them. So to all of the Charlie Browns in the world, keep on going. But never forget to stay kind in a world that desperately needs it.