By Brian VanHooker Published Sep 27, 2026, 1:27 AM EDT Analysis Unless Woodstock is saying something even more brilliant, though it's hard to tell
Image: Charles Schulz Sign in to your Polygon.com account Add Us Like Like follow Follow followed Followed Thread Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap American cartoonist Charles Schulz died on February 12, 2000, at age 77. The next day, the final Peanuts comic strip ran in newspapers, ending the 50-year run of Charlie Brown, Snoopy , and the gang. That timing might seem logical — you might assume the comic strip was written and submitted shortly before publication — but Peanuts strips, particularly Sunday ones like this, were done weeks ahead of time, making the timing something of a small coincidence.
Schulz had announced his retirement two months earlier due to several strokes and advancing colorectal cancer, and he’d created his last strip shortly after he made the announcement. While Schulz knew he was dying, he couldn’t have known two months in advance the exact day he would die and that he’d essentially penned his own obituary by having his last comic run just one day after his death.
Image: Charles Schulz The timing was auspicious and perhaps even profound, which was fitting for a man with such a profound impact on American culture. Over his 50-year career, Schulz gave us nearly 18,000 Peanuts comics. Some were sweet, some were funny, and some were incredibly deep, like this one from February 3, 1966, which contains Schulz’s best-ever quote, a high bar for such a prolific talent.
The comic was part of an ongoing storyline about Charlie Brown competing in a spelling bee. It began on February 2, 1966, and lasted all the way until February 20. The story ran for 16 straight strips, not including Sundays, as the extended Sunday strips had to be more self-contained because they required so much lead time and lots of people just read the Sunday comics.
Image: Charles Schulz In the story, Charlie Brown volunteers for a spelling bee at school. While he’s excited for the spelling bee, he characteristically botches it when it comes time for his first word — he spells “maze” as “m-a-y-s.” A stressed-out Charlie Brown then returns to his desk and puts his head down. When his teacher tells him to pick his head up, he snaps at her and gets sent to the principal’s office. He later is sent back to class, where he apologizes to his teacher.
The highlight from the whole storyline came in its second strip, after Charlie Brown had volunteered for the spelling bee. The comic begins with an incredulous Lucy, who cannot believe Charlie Brown would humiliate himself by volunteering for a spelling bee. In reply to Lucy’s skepticism, Charlie Brown shouts at her, “Well, what’s wrong? What’s wrong with trying?! I can try, can’t I?” Then Charlie Brown says something truly insightful. He says:
“What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?”
Image: Charles Schulz Good grief, is that brilliant. It’s such a thoughtful yet simple statement and the kind of thing that would be good for everyone to remember.
Of course, the profundity of the statement is lost on both Lucy and Charlie Brown himself. They’re just kids and they’re not supposed to know when they say something thoughtful, which could happen quite often in Peanuts . There’s evidence, though, that even Schulz himself failed…