Lessons Learned from Sesame Street

Some of you know what I mean, and some of you don't. Some of you will likely agree, and some of you won't. And that's okay. But here's my contention: Jim Henson was a genius! Many credit him with having invented the concept of "edu-tainment" in children's television. How clever to teach me something while I'm having fun. Pure genius.

The thought has occurred to me often over time, but most recently as I was about to use the last in a book of my Sesame Street stamps to post a payment on my mortgage. I turned 21, the year Jim Henson died, officially a legal grown-up.

Grown up or not, so many of his characters will forever be a part of my personal development. Nearly everything I ever needed to know about life, I learned on Sesame Street and the people in "my neighborhood". Consider the invaluable interpersonal skills. And the world's best songs, right? "Rubber Ducky"? "Put Down the Ducky"? The "Mnom-a-Nom" Song? (De-dee-de-de-de). I'm sure the ad folks for the Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper would agree.

Remember "It Ain't Easy Being Green"? Kermit the Frog helped us to appreciate being different, even if in an oddball, nerdy, sometimes misunderstood, yet likeable way. Big Bird and Snuffleupagus taught us about friendship despite differences, and eventually how to overcome shyness. Was it years before anyone but Big Bird knew Snuffy existed, or did it just seem like it? Maybe it was just a couple of seasons.

Ernie and Bert taught us how to cope with sharing a room with other siblings, and respect for other people's feelings and property; and that was no easy feat for most of us, unless you were the younger sibling. Lessons like that really came in handy during the college dorm years.

Oscar taught us that it's okay, even fun, to be a grouch and collect junk. (So it's really unfair for us to blame our grandmothers for our packrat tendencies.) Grover's restaurant skits taught us table manners, attention to detail, and to watch out for flies in the soup. The Count, well, he taught us to count - in Spanish, no less. Cookie Monster taught us good manners, the value of saying "Please" and "Thank You", even though he wasted a lot of perfectly good cookies over the years. Good old Guy Smiley was always smiling. And Roosevelt Franklin taught us that school was cool. (What you say?!)

Bob, Luis, Maria, Gordon, Susan and Mr. Hooper showed us that it is possible to live and work in a neighborhood with different people who are not exactly like us. In later seasons, Maria and Luis would teach us and our children about the beauty of love and family. And we learned a poignant lesson in grieving with Big Bird when Mr. Hooper went away.

Anyone else here willing to admit that the first word you learned in Spanish was agua, and that it's one of the words you recognize immediately and know confidently how to correctly pronounce?

Everyone should make time to occasionally revisit Sesame Street. I dare you not to enjoy the trip. And take the kids along, too. It's classic.