Snoopy has been fired.

Perhaps you saw the news blurb from a few weeks past, that after 30 years, insurer MetLife has parted ways with its spokesdog, Snoopy.

A MetLife representative expressed appreciation for the company's long association with the “iconic” Peanuts character but also said it's time for a new direction for the MetLife brand, which now will be represented by the letter “M.”

I suppose the Aflac goose and Geico gecko were already tied up contractually and not available for a switch of teams.

I don't know why I should find this news so distressing.

Wait, yes I do. From the ages of too-young-to-remember to too-old-to-admit-without-embarrassing-myself, I was a Snoopy fanatic. I slept with a stuffed Snoopy doll, and my room was decorated in a Snoopy theme (bedspread and curtains) at my request, which was more like a demand that may or may not have involved a minor tantrum.

I was an obsessive devourer of all things Peanuts, but Snoopy was a particular favorite. Before we got a family dog, I dreamed of having one like Snoopy, a loyal pal who also could play shortstop in our pickup baseball games. Rather than a clever beagle who walks on his hind legs, we wound up with Melvin, a lab/shepherd mix who was a whiz at catching a ball but also routinely stole my lunch.

When I tried to hug him, unlike Snoopy, who'd collapse into Charlie Brown's arms, Melvin would squirm free.

In the world of Peanuts, Snoopy is a unique character, an optimist as opposed to Charlie Brown's pessimist, with a rich fantasy life, conjuring adventures for himself as his alter ego, a World War I rival pilot to the Red Baron, or another alter ego, Joe Cool. Like his owner, that “round-headed kid” Charlie Brown, Snoopy almost always fails — the Red Baron routinely bests him in dogfights — but Snoopy remains positive about whatever is next, a yin to Charlie Brown's yang.

Snoopy also was a writer, pounding out purple prose-laden novels while sitting on top of his doghouse.

And oh, how I cried when watching “Snoopy, Come Home,” as Snoopy feels he must leave Charlie Brown and the gang behind in order to be with Lila, his original owner who has been sick in the hospital. I may even have gotten something in my eye thinking about it just now.

Snoopy was the first character for whom I created stories, imagining adventures for him as I played in my room. Woodstock was there too. How many hours must I have passed this way?

Normally, I'm not hugely enthusiastic about iconic characters being yoked to corporate brands, but I am concerned that the MetLife decision is an indicator of the fading potency of Snoopy and the rest of the Peanuts characters.

“The Peanuts Movie” did do what seems like a very solid $130 million at the box office last year, though the “Minions” movie did nearly that amount in its opening week, eventually grossing over $336 million.

It's not as though Snoopy is going to disappear entirely. Once truly iconic status is achieved, you are eternal. My 20-year-old college students know who Lucille Ball is, even though they've not seen one second of her work, the same way I know who Charlie Chaplin is, even though I've only experienced him in documentaries and the “Chaplin” biopic.

I suppose I thought that Snoopy would remain eternally current, but it seems that he's starting to enter his legacy phase. This is what time does. Forty years from now, some middle-aged writer will be lamenting how youngsters don't appreciate the genius of the Minions.

Good grief!

John Warner is a freelance writer whose most recent book is “Tough Day for the Army.”