Charlie

Mr. Wonka,

It’s been some time since I’ve penned a letter to you. I apologize for the distance between them, but it’s time that I write you. You see, not much has changed between then and now, thus the primary motive for this open letter. Since taking over the Chocolate Factory, you’ve been asserting yourself in situations that I haven’t asked you to. I appreciate all that you have done for me, but it’s time that you let go of the need to always be here for me. You’ve done so much for me over the years, and I am forever grateful. However, in some ways I am worse off for it. I’ve never had to learn how to take care of things on my own, because you were always there doing them for me in your own very particular way; a way in which I will never understand, and that’s okay. I’m no longer a child though, yet I still find myself being treated like one.

That said, I no longer look forward to your visits here at the factory. There are still comparisons being made which are simply irrelevant to my current circumstances. They were not then, and they still do not apply today. What does apply is the fact that I’m doing okay running the factory on my own. Sure, it may not be the way in which you had dreamt that it would be, but it works for me, and I couldn’t be happier by it. My priorities are not like yours, yet this does not mean I will let the factory fall into ruin. I do not intend to put even half as much work into the factory as you have, however. The golden ticket was not awarded to me because I was destined to be the next caretaker of the factory.

No. The golden ticket was awarded to me years before it reached my hands. With everything that you instilled in me, I will carry it all until it’s time for me to hand over the keys to the factory. I want you to know that this is not where my legacy will be left behind. It will barely be evident that I ever took over the factory to begin with. Instead my legacy will be left wherever I walk outside of these four walls. Please do not mistake this for anything more, and nothing less. In as many ways we are different; even more we are the same. I’m just like you.

Charlie