Tuesday, December 06, 2005

The Centre of the Universe

“When they discover the centre of the universe many people will be disappointed to discover they are not it.”


I found that quote in the Sunday Times here and thought it described most people so well, I tried to find out more about this intelligent guy behind it. Bernard Bailey was the name but there was no further information, so I went to Google for help. Well I didn’t get too far because the Google search threw up about twenty Bernard Baileys some of whom were authors, one of whom was a cartoonist and one of whom was a Beagle. So now I am sure it was the Beagle who thought up that clever line. I can just imagine Snoopy sitting on top of his doghouse with his diary, those silly birds twittering around him, while he glares at Lucy busy poking her nose into everything. And this brilliant line floats into his mind.

Well Lucy, in the Charlie Brown comic strip is so real it isn’t funny. We all know at least half a dozen like her I’m sure, if not more. Maybe we all have a bit of Lucy in us. Self centered, bossy, know it all attitude. I catch myself in that phase sometimes but get out of it soon enough these days. (I hope I’m seeing myself right!) But I guess in a more serious fashion I identify with Charlie Brown. Old Klutz, bumbling, shy, getting it mostly wrong. The only good thing about that is I have more hair than Charlie Brown. At least at the moment!

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

??!!

uma said...

Sorry Suresh. Just being facetious again.

On a more serious note, maybe it is a reference to my past. I do think Charlie Brown represents many of us which is why he is so popular. The part of us which is not sure, which makes mistakes, which is left wondering a lot of the time. Whats so bad about that?

Maybe if one were to really accept this part of us instead of steadfastly pretending to be smart and clever all the time, we would finally move on. I mean, it is not to get stuck on it, or (again) to start identifying strongly with it or anything. Just to say, ok sometimes I'm a bit of Charlie Brown.

????!!!

Stardust said...

I agree that we all have a bit of Charlie Brown in us since we are only human and humans are not perfect. Then there is the Lucy in us where we want to THINK we are pefect and all-knowing, and the Linus compassion, the Pig-pen laziness on certain days, and Snoopy's imagination, and Woodstock's silliness. I like your use of Peanuts characters as analogies for human behavior. :-) I think that is what Charles Schultz intended.