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The following story was sent to me by one of my granddaughters (I have four, each so very unique). The other day, during our Friday three mile walk (while her schedule permits it), she and I were talking about school and ... sociograms ... if you visit that site, make sure y'all come back now. Anyway, it's one of the many devices used in order to see where children are in any social situation (who's the star, who's the isolate, and where everyone else is in between). We concluded that no one device, or any one test in any subject, totally describes any one student.

I don't know how it happened but one day later she tuned into the this story which so aptly describes strengths, weaknesses, and that precarious situation of so many teenagers. Strangely enough, some of my own memories of my own high school years very closely resembles those of Sparky. When choosing teams in baseball, stickball, or punch ball, it amuses me now that I was the last chosen and each "captain" would say to the other, "Ok, you can have Harold" ... I was like so many others, the left-over kid.

What is even stranger is that, thinking back at it now, it never bothered me. I smile now at my own teenage ineptness in certain sports. Maybe because in my early teenage years I was the best (strongest?) wrestler on the block; maybe because instead of artwork which Sparky excelled in, I excelled in math work.

Everyone has to be good in something and growing up is just discovering what that something is. In some way, that "something" is what helps you know who you are. I think Sparky, Sarah, and I have much in common ... anyway, this is Sparky's story that Sarah sent to me.

Throughout his youth Sparky was awkward socially. He was not actually disliked by the other students; no one cared that much. He was astonished if a classmate ever said hello to him outside of school hours. There's no way to tell how he might have done at dating. Sparky never once asked a girl to go out in high school. He was too afraid of being turned down.

Sparky was a loser. He, his classmates ... everyone knew it. So he rolled with it. Sparky made up his mind early in life that if things were meant to work out, they would. Otherwise he would content himself with what appeared to be his inevitable mediocrity.

However, one thing was important to Sparky-drawing. He was proud of his artwork. Of course, no one else appreciated it. In his senior year of high school, he submitted some cartoons to the editors of the yearbook. The cartoons were turned down. Despite this particular rejection, Sparky was so convinced of his ability that he decided to become a professional artist.

After completing high school, he wrote a letter to Walt Disney Studios. He was told to send some samples of his artwork, and the subject for a cartoon was suggested. Sparky drew the proposed cartoon. He spent a great deal of time on it and on all other drawings he submitted. Finally, the reply came from Disney Studios. He had been rejected once again. Another loss for the loser.

So Sparky decided to write his own autobiography in cartoons. He described his childhood self as a little boy loser and chronic underachiever. The carton character would soon become famous worldwide. For Sparky, the boy who had such lack of success in school and whose work was rejected again and again, was Charles Schultz.

He created the "Peanuts" comic strip and the little cartoon character whose kite would never fly and who never succeeded in kicking a football, Charlie Brown.