New Year Bits And Pizzas

In my last three articles, I wished you a Merry Christmas. Now I wish you a Happy New Year. Many of you will eat pizza and bits of pizza this New Year’s. So, I thought I’d replace pieces with pizzas. Let’s start with a question: What can make a new year, a new year? How can you look at life differently and start anew? Here’s an example of three ways to see the same thing. 

Three engineering students gathered to discuss possible designers of the human body. One said, “It was a mechanical engineer. Just look at all the joints.” Another said, “No, it was an electrical engineer. The nervous system has many thousands of electrical connections.” The last student said, “No, it had to be a civil engineer. Who else would run a toxic waste pipeline through a recreational area?” See what I mean about different ways of looking at the same thing?

Speaking of seeing things differently, people around the world often mark the New Year by making resolutions. Do you do that? Here’s how most resolutions seem to unfold: 2022: I will stop looking at other women. 2023: I will not get involved with Wanda. 2024: I will not let Wanda pressure me into another marriage. 2025: I will stop looking at other women. After all is said and done, more is said than done.

Whether last year was good or challenging, I’d like to share some bits and pizzas written by others, as well as some of my own. These, if applied, could transport us from the disappointments of the past to the appointments of tomorrow. Let’s not call something new when it’s the same old stuff. 

To illustrate this, here’s a substantial slice of pizza about Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts cartoon. This story is worth your careful attention. 

“Walt Disney once told Charles Schulz he wasn't good enough to draw background art. "We only hire the finest artists," Disney wrote in a polite form letter to Schulz. But Sparky (Charles Schulz) wasn't going to be a background artist. His yearbook rejected his cartoons. His physics grade was zero. He failed every subject in eighth grade. Other kids called him "Sparky" after a horse in a comic strip. Paul Harvey put it best: “The other youngsters didn't actually dislike Sparky. No one cared enough about him to dislike him.”

This invisible boy did something strange. He did not try to prove Disney wrong. Instead, he wrote his autobiography in cartoons. Schulz named his main character after himself. You know his name: Charlie Brown from the Peanuts cartoon. The kid whose kite never flies, whose team never wins, and whose girlfriend never notices him.

Then Schulz did something the network executives hated. He put Luke 2 at the center of his Christmas special. "Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy..." It was about the birth of Jesus in the Bible. They told him to cut it because it was too religious. He refused.

At Christmas time, millions of people will watch that scene. Charles Schulz, the loser, became the messenger. Walt Disney said he wasn't good enough. His friends, his grades, and his artistic style said he wasn’t good enough. God said otherwise.” 

The takeaway from this account is that with God, nothing is impossible. Remember this true account of Charles Schulz, because you’re going to need it, like everyone else, several times in your life. Life doesn’t play favorites; it plays fair. It operates on universal principles. The sun rises for the rich and the poor alike, and the rain falls on both the strong and the weak. The difference in outcome is not in the fairness of life but in how individuals use what they have. Success is not biased. It bows to preparation, persistence, and wise decisions. Success means using what God gave you to the best of your ability. Success is when you stop telling the story that broke you and start living the story that rebuilt you. 

Continuing this theme of growth, here’s another delicious slice of pizza by James Clear. “Earlier this week, I read a line that stood out to me: Your goal in life should be to reduce the amount of time it takes you to get out of a bad state. The ability to bounce back quickly is a key life skill. My wife once told me. “When you’re five, you can be mad for a day. When you’re ten, you can be mad for an hour. By the time you’re thirty, you get ten minutes, and then you must move on.” Your takeaway: Life is full of moments of frustration and disappointment. Growth and maturity are learning to pull yourself out of a bad state faster. That dog will hunt! 

Here are some tasty bits of pizza for this New Year. “It doesn’t matter if you’re tall or short, thin or fat, rich or poor. At the end of the day – it’s night.” “Becoming more like Jesus works better for me than just trying to be a better me.” “A fourth monkey has emerged. He sees no one, hears no one, and speaks to no one. Don’t be that monkey.” “You don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to.” Amen.

Let me end with this closing thought for us writers. My teacher told me not to worry about spelling because there will be autocorrect in the future. And, for that, I am eternally grapefruit.