To the Mentor: The Doctor is REAL in

One of my favorite family Christmas traditions is the ritual of watching A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's a collection of chained together scenes that Charles M. Schulz montaged into a single poignant message about the true meaning of Christmas.

As you probably know, the montage grows through a series of peaks that begin with (bad luck) Charlie in characteristic fashion being forgotten, offended, and left behind by modern Christmas' commercialism, greed, and self-centeredness. Even his "very own dog," Snoopy (who is decorating his doghouse to win the neighborhood's best Yule tide decor contest), has gotten into the misadventure!

Always the sensitive soul, he seeks meaning from his friends to ease his growing depression.

At one point, he sidles up to a small wooden booth with the words "Psychiatric Help 5¢" etched over it. There's seating for just the doctor and the patient, one on either side of the booth's desk. She emphasizes to Charles that, not only is the doctor "in," but this doctor is REAL in! (real COOL!)

Charlie announces "depression" as his presenting issue ONLY AFTER Lucy has collected, and positively rejoiced, to have harvested a nickel from Charlie, whose depression seems to worsen as he watches her shake the clinking can with delight. She asks, "What kind of depression?” And she continues by listing off several Latin-based diagnoses the suggest he might be afraid of cats, stairs, the ocean, or her final offer, "panophobia"..."fear of everything." On that note, Charlie points and explodes with clear seeing: "That's IT!!! I'm afraid of everything!!!"

Later, the depressed, fearful, and friend-frustrated boy in the jagged-print yellow shirt cries out in agony during his failing turn as director of the school Christmas play, unable to rally his dancing and complaining friends to act their parts on cue, and who make fun of him for buying a weak and dying thin branch of a Christmas tree, "Does ANYONE know the true meaning of Christmas?!"

And you know what follows…Linus, the one friend who never insults and always listens to Charlie, takes center stage. After he gently commands, "Lights please," he recites, from heart, the age-old words from the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke.

Charlie is heartened. Unable to rally his friends, he rallies himself. He collects his limp tree. He leaves the auditorium. He goes to his yard. He hangs upon the tree a single red bulb. It droops. He droops too and walks away having tried his best to keep things real.

Mentors: People are wandering. They want to know what is real, who is real. They'll even pay you and accept borderline malpractice if they can get someone to listen and point them toward substance that passes the tests of their own aches and aspirations.

Be a Linus.

Change the game for the searching souls that come across your path.

Merry Christmas!

Photo credit: www.peanuts.com (www.snoopy.com)

#mentor #moment