In 1970, when 10-year-old Joel Linton requested Charles Schulz, the creator of Peanuts, “What do you suppose makes a just right citizen?” Schulz despatched the youngerster a brief however pithy answer:
Expensive Joel:
I believe it’s extra difficult at the moment to outline what makes a just right citizen than it has ever been sooner than. Certainly all any folks can do is follow our personal conscience and retain religion in our democracy. Someoccasions it’s the very people who cry out the loudest in desire of getting again to what they name “American Virtues” who lack this religion in our councheck out. I consider that our niceest energy lies all the time within the professionaltection of our smallest minorities.
Sincerely yours,
Charles M. Schulz
When this letter surconfronted in 2019, Schulz’s widow commented, “I continually to find comic strips that can have been written for nowadays’s audience.” “This says what must be mentioned now.” Wantmuch less to mention, the similar message bears repeating in 2024.
Related Content
23 Minutes of Charles Schulz Drawing Peanuts
Umberto Eco Explains the Poetic Power of Charles Schulz’s Peanuts
How Franklin Was Peanuts’ First Black Character, Due to a Automotiveing Facultyinstructor (1968)
