"C" is For Cookie Even After 40 Years

Every child has thought there were monsters in their closet and The Children's Television Network, decided to bring them out from the closet and into our homes. Monsters in all different colors, shapes, sizes - with their own special quirks and strengths...To help open our minds and our hearts to possibilities and the fact that being different is special. PBS is still doing it. It's the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street. Click over to google.com and see a great drawing of the Cookie Monster in their Google Doodle.

I was six, when Sesame Street first came on the air. Kermit The Frog was my favorite, he still is. Kermit was brimming with inspiration and an inner smile that let me know life was full of amazing things if you only looked at them with an open perspective. He was a great TV character because he embodied intelligence, wit, love, and awe of life... As an adult I enjoyed all of his roles in The Muppet Movies, and enjoyed getting to know him again on Sesame Street when my daughter was young and making friends with him.

My brother Robert Riger, wrote a book with Kermit, One Frog Can Make a Difference; Kermit's Guide to Life in the '90s and my daughter and I had a great time watching as Kermit was on Good Morning America. With his cooking segment, the Frogal Gourmet making Shoofly pie... to promote the book. There were many other characters on Sesame Street that inspired the imagination and creativity.

Looking back it was all the subtle things about Sesame Street's characters, how they interacted with one an other. How what made them so different and some might label "odd" made them special and a family. I think adults enjoyed the life lesson parables hidden in the show as much as the children it was made for. The show made poetry, art, music, literature, love and inspiration approachable and indispensable for every child who watched no matter what their background.

So I say three cheers for Sesame Street and their 40th anniversary and many more years bringing monsters with heart and love into the homes of children. Take a moment to watch Herry and John John counting and remember your delights as a child. And remember that not only can one frog make a difference but You can make a difference.

BZ Riger www.artofallowingmindset.com, www.internetradiowithjuice.com
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Comments

[Greg Delaney]

I may have learned the equivalent of several years' worth of elementary education from watching Sesame Street