Cagle World

The country is divided, in massive debt, and our future isn’t looking so good – but thankfully, I have more immediate worries to consume my energies.

Girl Scout cookies are back.

I’m on a diet, you see – the same diet I’m on every year at this time as I struggle to lose the weight I put on during the holiday season.

This year offers a far greater weight-loss challenge, however, because most of 2020 offered millions of us the perfect conditions to pack on the pounds.

They don’t call it “COVID-19” for nothing.

And just as I was looking forward to a shortage of Girl Scout cookie stands, which usually set up shop at every single store I normally go to, I just learned that Girl Scout cookies are now easier to purchase than ever before.

Newsweek reports that the Girls Scouts are partnering with Grubhub to make online ordering and home delivery of cookies as fast and easy as downing an entire sleeve of Shortbread/Trefoils dipped in ice-cold milk.

To be sure, the Girl Scouts’ “virtual cookie booth” is going to make NOT buying Girl Scout cookies harder than ever before.
That doesn’t bode well for me.

In pre-coronavirus years, as I struggled to maintain my diet, I tried to avoid any store where a Girl Scout cookie stand was active (and succeeded every once in a while).

If Girl Scouts knocked on my door, I’d attempt to hide in the basement or lock myself in the garage.

During one close call – I was out for a walk when I saw a couple of Girl Scouts heading down the street in my direction – I dove into a snow drift behind my neighbor’s forsythia shrubs. Thank God, they never saw me.

I face a huge challenge at this time every year, you see.

If not ever-vigilant, I’ve been known to eat Thin Mints as though they were Tic Tacs.

I’ve gobbled down Peanut Butter Patties the way grizzlies gorge on wild salmon.

I once ordered so many Do-si-dos/Peanut Butter Sandwiches that the Girl Scout bakery had to call me to tell me they Don’t-si-don’t have any more!

But this year I’m grateful for this difficult challenge.

From Feb. 1 until Girl Scout cookie sales end on March 1, my energies will be consumed with trying NOT to buy and eat the daggone things.

For a little while, I’ll stop worrying about the vitriol in our public discourse and the ever-hardening group-think forming on way too many sides of the political spectrum.

I’ll momentarily quit fretting about the lack of curiosity among too many at our major media outlets about holding every politician and government representative accountable.

I’ll even try to stop wondering where the COVID-19 vaccine is that hopefully will keep my 80-something parents safe until this pandemic finally passes.

And so it is that I’m actually looking forward to my annual Girl Scout cookie challenge this year to take my mind off my many woes.
Though I expect to do better than I did four years ago.

In 2017, one Girl Scout made the national news for selling 100,000 boxes of cookies.

I was her only customer!

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Copyright 2021 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

America could use a hearty laugh right now, but laughter doesn’t come easily because too many Americans have lost their sense of humor.

Humor, says Merriam-Webster, is “the ability to be funny or to be amused by things that are funny.”

We are at our best when we’re amused. Few things can better reduce stress or shed light on truth than a good joke.

I can’t think of a better time to revisit what some great minds have said about humor’s incredible value – to both individuals and well-functioning societies.

“Nonsense wakes up the brain cells. And it helps develop a sense of humor, which is awfully important in this day and age. Humor has a tremendous place in this sordid world. It’s more than just a matter of laughing. If you can see things out of whack, then you can see how things can be in whack.” – Dr. Seuss

These words couldn’t be more pertinent to the wackiness of 2021, when half the country thinks the other half should be silenced in all public forums.

“If you find it hard to laugh at yourself, I would be happy to do it for you.” – Groucho Marx

Groucho’s words remind me of something that “Saturday Night Live” founder Lorne Michaels said about poking fun at politicians. He noted that when the show pokes fun at Republicans, they find it funny – they don’t take the ribbing as personally as do some with opposite political points of view.

“Imagination was given to man to compensate him for what he is not; a sense of humor to console him for what he is.” – Francis Bacon

To be sure, we human beings can be flawed in so many ways – our politicians, who are supposed to reflect our will, even more so.

As some of our more egocentric politicians make trivial matters into large affairs, don’t they risk overlooking genuine problems that their constituents are begging them to address?

Doesn’t a sense of humor – which is one and the same as a sense of humility – offer an antidote to such self-absorption?

“Common sense and a sense of humor are the same thing, moving at different speeds. A sense of humor is just common sense, dancing.” – William James

Common sense, which Merriam-Webster describes as “sound and prudent judgment based on a simple perception of the situation or facts,” is no longer common.

Opinion is what is far too common now – opinion that’s not rooted in much of anything factual, but in everything emotional.

Opinion and sarcasm are closely related – opinion and self-seriousness are strongly related – but opinion and humor are not related often enough.

Look, America needs to restore its sense of humor. We need a good belly laugh for our own health and that of our republic.

“We change physiologically when we laugh,” reports WebMD. “We stretch muscles throughout our face and body, our pulse and blood pressure go up, and we breathe faster, sending more oxygen to our tissues.”

What our country needs is no more complicated than this great thought from a common-sense country singer:

“To succeed in life, you need three things: a wishbone, a backbone and a funny bone.” – Reba McEntire

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Copyright 2021 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

Without grace, our public discourse will continue to suffer.

“Grace,” according to Dictionary.com, has more than one meaning, but all of them are powerful.

Grace is “a pleasing or attractive quality,” as well as “favor or goodwill.”

In a religious sense, grace is “a virtue or excellence of divine origin” – a gift from God to help us be more charitable and gracious toward our fellow man. It’s also a prayer of thanks recited before meals.

In a general sense, grace is “elegance or beauty of form, manner, motion, or action.”

And when we are most lucky, our beloved friends and family members grace us with their presence.

Grace is a beautiful and necessary component of everyday life. Without it, our world cannot function.

And grace is horribly lacking in our public discourse.

Too many political leaders, beginning with our president and including too many others holding high positions in the federal government, are being the polar opposite of graceful.

Dictionary.com lists some antonyms of grace. They include ugliness, animosity, enmity, harshness and disfavor.

Even Trump supporters have been appalled by the coarseness of some of his tweets and his recent words that resulted in some disgraceful followers storming the U.S. Capitol, which has sickened, saddened and appalled everyone.

But how are Trump’s political foes, who’ve told their supporters to get into peoples’ faces or disrupt their restaurant meals, or who used highly inflammatory words to gin up protesters, better?

When our alleged leaders are totally lacking any semblance of grace, where does that leave us?

In a world lacking in grace, citizens are at each other’s throats. They don’t care to understand ideas or points of view that challenge theirs. No, it’s easier to demonize and make caricatures of those who hold different ideas or political viewpoints – it’s easier to destroy opposing thought.

In a world lacking in grace, political leaders aren’t leaders at all. They’re followers. They seek power by feeding red meat to just enough followers to get them across the finish line on election day. They care only about the 51% who supported them – and turn a blind eye to the 49% who didn’t, further dividing our increasingly fractured country.

In a world lacking in grace, civility is lost. Neighbors turn on neighbors who put the wrong political signs in their front yards. Politics becomes all-consuming and never-ending. Anger becomes all-consuming and ever-increasing. Hatred rears its ugly head, with violence waiting in the wings, looking for any opportunity to erupt.

To save the future, we need to restore grace to our country, our political leaders and ourselves – and it begins with each and every one of us.

We need to open our hearts and minds to what is true and good – truth and goodness hold no political affiliations.
We need to see the best in our neighbors.

We need to understand why people think differently than we do – and we will likely discover that we mostly all desire similar beneficial outcomes, and differ primarily on how to achieve those outcomes.

I pray that God bestows much-needed grace upon us once again – because grace is what we need to restore order, trust and civility to public discourse.

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Copyright 2021 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

My new puppy entered the world on Christmas and he’s already bringing incredible joy into my family – just as many dogs, cats and other bundles of joy are doing for millions during these unusual times.

I drove to Punxsutawney over the weekend to choose a Labrador puppy. Sunny, the Lab mom, and Tank, the proud Lab dad, produced nine healthy pups born, fittingly, on Christmas morning.

So cute are they, five had been claimed when I called. I had to move fast to claim one of the remaining four.

Early the next morning, I made the two-hour drive with great anticipation. No sooner did I set eyes on one little guy, the most docile of the bunch – and no sooner did he nestle happily into my arms – than I knew I’d found my pup.

I can’t wait for him to turn eight weeks old in mid-February, so I can bring him home.

My first hope was to find a rescue dog, like my lovable childhood mutt, Jingles.

Long a Lab lover, I was hoping for a Lab mix with the affable traits of one of my best buddies, an incredible Lab/Pit mix named Stanley, who lives on a large, heavenly ranch with my friends Dan and Jen.

After hours searching and a few weeks of trying, I had no luck matching with a canine pal. When I stumbled upon a still-available litter of Lab puppies, then, I acted fast, and I’m happy I did.

During my dog search, I discovered some wonderful worldwide trends.

First, there has been increasing demand to adopt rescue animals of every kind.

Humans, isolated at home, long for the love, affection and many other benefits that companion animals bring.

In the era of social media, it’s all too easy to get lost in the narrowness of our limited points of view regarding politics and other matters, but lovable animals shatter such self-centeredness.

A few bats of puppy-dog eyes will transform anyone lost in himself to being completely concerned for the total well-being and happiness of a lovable Lab who wants his belly scratched.

A lovable animal brings out so much empathy and compassion, we’re prone to be more humane to other human beings – even those who voted for the other candidate.

Another wonderful trend: Many big-hearted people are opening their homes to rescue animals, to foster them and make sure they’re well-matched to forever homes – where they can flourish for the rest of their lives.

Third, millions of Americans are donating funds to help rescue organizations care for and place in-need animals. Giving is way up. Even if you aren’t ready to adopt or foster, donating money to support these activities will bring you joy.

Lots of wonderful animals are waiting for their forever homes. If you’re ready to invite a bundle of joy into your home, there are many legitimate foster agencies to choose from.

Though I chose a puppy this time, I may adopt an older dog next. Older animals can have a harder time getting adopted than puppies and kittens, and adopting an older dog next would give each dog a canine companion to enjoy.

My little pup may have been born on Christmas, but as far as I’m concerned, every companion animal was. 

Because they’re all precious gifts from God.

–

Copyright 2021 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

The older I get, the more I am turning into my father.

You see, the world makes less sense to me every day. My fellow man puzzles me more every day.

I cite exhibit A: crappy stone walls. I know a woman who recently paid $10,000 to have a stone retaining wall built along her driveway.

Now I used to be a stonemason – I rebuilt close to 200 such walls during my college years – and I was shocked to learn that hers was a NEW wall. It was buckling and full of gaps. Not one stone was properly cut or faced.

It’s the latest craze, she told me – walls that have an old, authentic look. This is because people suddenly want the outside of their homes to look as “distressed” as the inside.

“Distressed furniture” is the latest trend in interior design. People are buying brand new tables and dressers, bringing them into their garages, kicking and scratching them, then covering them in a lumpy, flaky paint.

I called my sister, an interior designer, to learn more about this peculiar activity. She said people want the antique look, but because real antiques are hard to come by, then the next best thing is to buy something new and make it look scuffed and tired and worn.

This causes my father to rise up in me as I say, “What the…”

But nothing is more puzzling than our next item of distress: distressed jeans. That’s right, there is actually a product the fashionistas refer to as “distressed jeans.” These are jeans with tears and gaping holes that sell for upwards of $600 a pair.

Even in Pittsburgh, land of common sense people, a lousy pair of trendy jeans run upwards of $200. I talked with the owner of an upscale jeans store and she told me the jeans with holes in them aren’t as popular as the ones with paint splattered all over them.

“Jeans with paint on them?”

“Yes, they’re all the rage.”

“But they have paint on them!”

“Yes!”

Just as I was ready to concede that the American experiment is spent and all will soon be lost, she told me about another jeans trend: dirt washed jeans. That’s right, the jean manufacturer washes them in dirt. They have pebbles and clumps of clay in the pockets. And Americans, many of them educated and from good homes, willingly exchange their hard-earned dough for them.

The dirt washed jeans are almost as popular as the grease-smeared jeans, she continued (and I’m not making this up). The jean manufacturers actually smear grease all over the jeans, so that people who buy them can be as fashionable as the guy in the pit down at the Jiffy Lube.

I asked the jean shop owner to help me understand why people are buying such products. She said that the manufacturers are always trying to be hip. When something hits – when the trendy crowd just has to have it – the manufacturer can charge huge markups.

Well, I understand that, I told her. But WHY? WHY are people dumb enough to buy these things? Why are Americans spending so much money for items that sensible Americans used to donate to Goodwill or toss in the garbage?

She had no answer. Let me take a stab at it.

As we work exhausting hours in gray cubicles doing bland service work – as we move into cookie-cutter houses in the thick of suburban sprawl – and as fewer of us know any sense of craftsmanship or what it is like to sweat or work with our hands, we long for ANYTHING authentic, even if it is fake.

But what do I know. At 43, I have effectively become my father. Puzzled as I am by the latest trends, my thoughts have shifted to more practical matters.

Such as finding a couple of suckers willing to give me $200 bucks for my dirty, greasy, paint-stained jeans.

–

Copyright 2020 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

We got blanketed with 10 inches of snow last week and I loved it – because I love how snow slows us down and brings us to our senses.

When it snows in Pittsburgh, people pour out into the streets. We shovel our sidewalks and driveways, invigorated by the crisp air and some vigorous activity.

We sip hot coffee and catch up with neighbors, enjoying much-needed conversation in this isolated year – conversation made possible by snow.

Even now, snow fills me with the joy I experienced as a boy when school was canceled.

Even now, I head for the sledding slopes to frolic with childlike innocence and laughter for a few hours or more.

I formerly lived in Washington, D.C., and, boy, did I love when it snowed there. I still do.

This is the town where our allegedly smart political and government leaders decide what’s best for the rest of us.

They pass complex laws few legislators read. Regulators interpret those laws to create rules that are often incomprehensible. They issue health guidelines that they say we must follow because they think we’re not smart enough to protect ourselves.

But when a few white flakes fall from the sky, these very same people go into a panic.

D.C. goes into shutdown mode. Government offices are shuttered. Washingtonians, some of whom tell us not to use toilet paper and bottled water because they’re bad for the environment, flock to the store to hoard toilet paper and bottled water.

Snow is real, you see. It falls out of the sky at its own whim. You can slip on it and hurt yourself. You can wreck your car if you aren’t careful. Your postal carrier or Amazon delivery person can slip on your walk, if it isn’t shoveled, and you may be sued.

In the heartland, though, we don’t panic. We pick up shovels and clear our sidewalks, then do the same for our elderly neighbors. We plan ahead. We prepare.

We have a tremendous capacity to think and act based on a dying concept called common sense – the ability to assess situations and make sensible decisions.

And because we’re prepared for the reality of snow falling from the heavens, we’re able to understand the wonderful lesson that snow teaches us.

Snow reminds us that despite all of our innovations and technologies, we cannot control much of what happens in life. All we can control is how we respond to what happens.

Snow humbles us. It keeps our common sense in good working order. We know that sweeping government restrictions and mandates – even if they have good intentions – produce many unintended consequences.

We know that the more that government stays out of our lives – the more we are free to make decisions about what is best for ourselves and our families’ well-being – the better off we all are.

Snow tells us to slow down a little bit, reflect on what is most important in our lives – our loved ones – and take a break from the unending difficulties and challenges that have lingered throughout this year.

That’s why we sure could use another nice coating of snow. And that’s why I’m hoping for a white Christmas this year!

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Copyright 2020 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

The way my siblings and I responded to my family’s chicken-pox outbreak in 1973 may shed light on Americans’ responses to COVID-19 in 2020.
I was about 10 and remember how differently my five sisters responded to that highly contagious bug.

To prevent its spread, our family doctor ordered us to wash our hands regularly; keep all surfaces, devices and furnishings in the house extra-clean; and maintain our distance from infected siblings.

“If you do come down with chicken pox,” said the doctor, “do not touch or scratch the infected areas of your skin or it will spread it all the more.”

My oldest sister, Kathy, complied completely with the doctor’s orders. Like all my sisters, she’s still obsessive about keeping her home clean.

Amazingly, she never once gave into the urge to scratch her one small chicken-pox bump in the center of her forehead. Nearly 50 years later, researchers still try to determine the source of her incredible discipline.

My middle sisters did their best to comply but, being easy-going middle children, weren’t much concerned about the virus, one way or another. They didn’t understand what all the hullaballoo was about and came through with minimal infection and fuss.

My second-born sister, however, took an approach that would have made “live and let live” libertarian icon Friedrich Hayek proud.

On the rare occasions when she didn’t lock herself in her bedroom, she carefully navigated the house covered in a freshly washed quilt. She carried a Lysol spray can and doused anything and anyone within 10 feet.

Then there was me – a model for the total lack of chicken-pox discipline.

No sooner did I have one bump than I commenced scratching it from dawn to dusk.

In one week’s time, I had so many bumps, even my loving mother suggested it would be best for the family’s appetite if I stopped joining them for dinner – though, to her credit, she did prevent my father from making me soak in a tub of Epsom salts and diesel fuel.

I share my family’s unpleasant chicken-pox story because it illustrates how different personalities respond differently to virus outbreaks.

Polls have shown that Republicans (who include more conservative “live and let live” thinkers who are more likely to let individuals make their own health choices) differ considerably from Democrats (who include more thinkers supportive of sweeping government restrictions to prevent spread) on how to deal with COVID-19.

On one end of the spectrum are people like my oldest sister, who understand and follow the recommended guidelines to protect themselves and others.

On the other end are chicken-pox fools like me, who do nothing to prevent the spread of a virus and put everyone at risk.

There are dictators who shut down everything, like my second-born sister. And there are many people, like my middle sisters, who take care of themselves just fine without needing government to hurt millions of businesses and individuals.

That’s human nature, I suppose, which no human being or government can ever change – whether the virus in question is chicken pox or COVID-19.

Perhaps if our political leaders took all of our differing personalities and points of view into consideration, they would design more effective responses that a greater majority of people would support.

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Copyright 2020 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

Sorry, COVID-19, but you’re not going to stop our Christmas cheer this year.

You remind me of the Dr. Seuss Christmas classic, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.”

The Grinch, you see, is a miserable old grouch. He lives in a cave on a hill and hates the sound of Christmas festivities that take place in Whoville in the valley below.

His only source of joy, he initially thinks, is to rob the Whos of their Christmas presents, decorations and feast. His wants to make the Whos as miserable as he is.

And though he succeeds in taking all of the Whos’ material possessions, the one thing he can’t take is their Christmas joy.

He’s shocked on Christmas morning when the Whos gather, hold hands and sing a joyful carol – not the least bit worried about their material losses.

This year, the stores are empty – few people are out shopping. There’s no hustle or bustle that’s so common at this time of year.

But the people who are out appear to be friendlier and more cheerful than usual.

While driving the other night, I noticed something wonderful: It appears that many more houses are displaying Christmas decorations this year. Whole neighborhoods are lit up with the most beautiful arrangements of Christmas lights.

I’m noticing this all over the city, and it makes me smile. I smile because it’s a simple act of defiance in the face of the virus that keeps on causing us trouble.

I smile because COVID is causing us to focus on one of the greatest gifts of Christmas, which is charitableness.
According to Marketplace, charitable giving has been way up in 2020.

“A lot of the data on charitable giving comes out at the end of the year, but we know from early numbers that people are giving more than in previous years, in particular to food banks, to groups that focus on housing and to mutual aid groups, which are more grassroots efforts, neighbors helping neighbors,” reports Marketplace’s Marielle Segarra.

COVID may be impeding our traditions and gatherings this year, but it’s not bringing us down. Rather, it’s helping us care more for our neighbors and others who are in need and struggling as a result of the daggone bug.

Sure, COVID, you’ve caused a lot of disruption. But you’ve helped open our eyes at the same time.

You’ve helped us identify some among us who enjoy their government powers a little too much – who abuse those powers a little too much.

You’ve helped us identify hypocrites who shut down restaurants and forbid travel – but then are caught eating at fancy restaurants after traveling to exotic vacation spots.

You’ve helped us realize that some people in power have little regard for the people they’re supposed to serve, and choose not to allow those people to make their own commonsense decisions to, say, protect themselves from the virus while attending a church service.

I’ve got news for you, COVID: We’re going to prevail over you. In fact, we already have.

Because the true outcome of your disruptiveness has been to bring out the best in most of us – to bring out our Christmas cheer in abundance.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have some Christmas carols to sing.

–

Copyright 2020 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

Good grief.

It surprised me how sad I was that “A Charlie Brown Christmas” would no longer air on broadcast television. I felt like I’d lost a chunk of my childhood.

In October, Apple TV+ acquired the rights to all “Peanuts” holiday specials including “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” A great hue and cry resulted. An online petition went viral., And Apple TV+ agreed to let PBS broadcast the beloved special this Christmas season.

Thank goodness for that, because in this nutty year, every one of us can identify with Charlie Brown’s struggles.

Despite his best efforts, Charlie Brown’s a lovable loser whose plans never work the way he intended.

“Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz once said that Charlie Brown “must be the one who suffers because he is a caricature of the average person. Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than winning.”

When he trick-or-treats, he gets rocks, not candy. When other kids exchange cards, he’s left out. When Lucy promises she won’t pull the football away as he attempts to kick it, he’s hopeful she won’t – for once – but she pulls it away again and he goes flying onto his back.

Millions can identify with Charlie Brown’s woes in 2020.

When “A Charlie Brown Christmas” first aired 55 years ago, on Dec. 9, 1965, it captured a whopping half of the American viewing audience. Every year, it was a big event in my childhood home.

My sisters and I packed into the family room, plugged in the Christmas tree, and turned off all the lamps so its lights would shine bright. Then we’d anxiously anticipate the show.

It tells how Charlie Brown is depressed because everyone around him fails to see the true meaning of Christmas. Lucy complains about getting stupid toys, a bicycle or clothes for Christmas, saying she wants real estate.

To resolve his depression, Charlie Brown throws himself into directing a Christmas play. But that soon falls apart, too.

Distraught, he follows a light in the east and finds his way to a Christmas tree lot. The tree he chooses is a small, sickly one.

When he brings it back, the others mock him. But then Linus comes to the rescue. He tells Charlie Brown he knows the real meaning of Christmas and recounts the story of Christ’s birth.

“Glory to God in the highest, and on Earth peace, goodwill toward men,” Linus says, quoting from the Bible.

Suddenly, the other characters are transformed. Now compassionate and concerned, they decorate the tree, making it a thing of beauty. They wish Charlie Brown “Merry Christmas” and sing a carol.

Silly as it may sound, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” offers a helpful lesson during this holiday season. Despite so much that has gone wrong – despite COVID-19’s never-ending unpleasantness and restrictions – we can still choose to be cheerful.

We can bring gifts to elderly neighbors who’ve been stuck inside, send donations or food to those in need, and just be thankful for what we have and not dwell so much on what we’ve lost.

We’re all Charlie Brown this Christmas. So, let’s find the good in our grief this year!

–

Copyright 2020 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].

My family canceled Thanksgiving this year – my favorite holiday since I was a kid.

Usually, 30 to 40 people gather at my parents’ house and sit next to each other at three tables. But in this year of COVID-19 – aptly named, because I and everyone I know has put on about 19 pounds since March – the grand event has been canceled.

When I was a kid in the 1970s, my parents lived in a modest house. We packed people in for Thanksgiving nonetheless, with three tables taking up every inch of space in the dining room and living room. The tight circumstances made the event all the more fun and memorable.

When I taste turkey, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce – the cheap kind in the ribbed can! – I taste the many years of camaraderie and happiness we’ve enjoyed around those tightly packed tables.

I knew as a boy, as I still do now, that the family members around the table were our primary blessings and sources of happiness. As sad as we are that wonderful aunts and uncles have left us over time, we are thankful for the many new souls whose joy has enriched our continually growing clan.

My parents have 17 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren, and we all look forward to hearing stories about what they’ve said or done, often laughing out loud. Their joy fills us with joy.

But there will be no Thanksgiving gathering this year – no laughter around the dinner tables, no catching up as we talk about everything and nothing at all. That’s somewhat troubling, because we don’t know how many such gatherings we have left at my parents’ home.

That’s taking a toll on all of us this Thanksgiving, when everyone could use an enjoyable feast to take a respite from all the disruption in our lives and recharge our batteries a little bit.

If 2020 has given us one important lesson, it’s that we shouldn’t take for granted the blessings we still have in abundance. That lesson makes clear that the people who will NOT sit around the Thanksgiving table this year are what is most valuable to us. 

This year has reminded us to get back to the basics.

We don’t need massive riches to fill ourselves with happiness. To the contrary, material wealth can cause unhappiness – particularly when markets crash and fortunes disappear.
 
Truthfully, Kenny Rogers summarized well the three basic things we need in our lives to pursue happiness: someone to love, something to do and something to look forward to.

And, boy, am I looking forward to picking back up with my extended family’s magical Thanksgiving gathering next year – to getting back to normal.
Perhaps it takes an especially disruptive year to bring us back to our senses. That’s the spirit in which I’m taking 2020.

As far as the economy and our country’s future goes, my family is as apprehensive about the coming months as anyone. We have experienced lost work and wage cuts, as millions of Americans have.

Though we won’t sit around the Thanksgiving tables enjoying each other’s company this year, we still will be thankful for the many blessings we’ve been given.

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Copyright 2020 Tom Purcell. Tom Purcell, author of “Misadventures of a 1970’s Childhood,” a humorous memoir available at amazon.com, is a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review humor columnist and is nationally syndicated exclusively by Cagle Cartoons Inc. For info on using this column in your publication or website, contact [email protected] or call (805) 969-2829. Send comments to Tom at [email protected].