Tag: charlie brown

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Be The Best.

Good Grief…6 months later

One of the more read blog posts over time has been the ‘good grief’ one featuring Charlie Brown and Charles Dickens.  Of course…a perfect match!

If you haven’t read that blog post or want a refresher, here’s the link.

What’s good about grief?

On one hand, not much…not much at all.

On the other hand, grief can only be caused when there has been a love so deep that it evokes such deep emotion.  That’s pretty powerful.

I saw/heard a Be The Best story today that you’ve just gotta hear.

There was a very sad story from last summer where a family lost their 19-year-old son in a drowning accident at Harrison Hot Springs.  The family had put up a memorial cross at the site, but the Harrison community removed it, fearing vandalism or theft.  They encouraged the family to buy a $2000 commemorative bench so their tribute for their son could be permanent.

When that story first aired, the conclusion was that the family simply could not afford that expense.

Fast forward a number of months to today.  A young woman viewing that story was struck by the family’s situation and was so moved she mobilized what she felt and fundraised the $2000!

In today’s Newshour story, she delivered the cheque to the still grieving family.

They were grateful, ecstatic and emotional as they could now pay tribute to their son in the way they needed to in order to have a permanent recognition.

I thought that young woman was quite incredible.  Without knowing the family, she put her thoughts into action and made what will be a life changing gift for this family.

Is grief good?

Not really.  But the things that come out of these situations can be incredible.

As human beings we have the most amazing power to influence and change lives.

Be The Best!

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Be The Best.

‘Good Grief’ and Two Charlies

I was thinking about Charlie Brown today.  Not really about Snoopy or Lucy or that piano dude…remember?  Schroeder. I was remembering one of Charlie Brown’s catch phrases….’good grief’.  After my extensive (4 minute) search on the history of ‘good grief’ I found….not much.  A euphemism for “Good God”, dating back to the 1900’s and of course an ‘Arrested Development’ TV episode from 2004?

In any event, it’s an oxymoron when taken literally.  I had to think about any aspect of grief being good.  Not so much.  However, thinking back to AC’s (Cathy AJ Hardy) comments at the funeral, she mentioned a pain or hurt so deep could only be caused by a LOVE that was so deep.  Hmm…that may be the good beside the grief.

I also thought about this quote…ok, you Grade 11 and 12’s…you should know this one.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way..

Got it?  Yes, that Charles Dickens from A Tale of Two Cities.  Sure, that was written in the 1800’s, but it is a pretty accurate description of grief I think.  I’ve seen a lot about stages of grief and I’m sure that is probably true, but right now it is more like a pretty big yo-yo.  You go up and down between the extremes of the ‘best of times’ remembering, laughing, joking, smiling and dive down to the ‘worst of times’, missing, aching, dreaming of the missed future etc.

Good Grief? Maybe that Charlie Brown was a lot smarter than I ever thought…but I think Lucy knew that all along.