Sesame Street

Last year marked the 40th Anniversary of a well-known specimen of television mastery; an educational masterpiece; a place that was created specifically for children where furry creatures teach them how to speak and count in both English and Spanish. Of course I’m talking about my most favorite Street in the World… Sesame Street ! This street could quite possibly be the most famous street in the world. At least it is in America. It’s well known to anyone who ever watched TV, carried a lunch box or who learned to count to 12 from a purple vampire. It’s that magical destination where weird creatures can talk and where only very fortunate humans are allowed to visit. For forty years (of course we can count that high!) Sesame Street has continued to be the most popular street to anyone under 3 feet tall (next to the street they live on).

Who doesn’t remember Big Bird or Cookie Monster or gold ole Snuffy? Who could ever forget Bob, Mr. Hooper , or the lovely Maria? And who hasn’t burst out singing with that crazy hairy character who sang the ever popular Ma Na Ma Na song? I bet kids today never even heard of the Typewriter Guy or the Teeny Little Super Guy on the plastic cup. These are all friends from the past. Friends we looked forward to seeing each and every day as we pulled up our little table in front of our 20” TV set to eat those Lucky Charms or Booberry cereal just before heading off to school. This was a morning ritual until one day we woke up to discover new neighbors on the street. There were new friends! Elmo , Mr. Noodle, Zoe, and Stinky the Eggplant. Each year there were more and more characters to meet! This was no longer OUR street but rather it turned into our nieces and nephews street! This was a street we no longer wished to visit. We chose to sleep through Sesame Street right up until the bus pulled in front of our house to whisk us away to learn more challenging things like Calculus and Chemistry. These were important academic classes taught in a fine institution from regular humans who didn’t sing or dance but rather lectured and lectured and lectured to the point that we looked forward to primetime television with our newer sophisticated friends. Winnie Cooper, Doogie Howser and that “hottie” Kirk Cameron. Then it was on to higher education for us where I met fellow students who had also been raised by Big Bird and Oscar The Grouch . Our human friends grew up to be adults who seemed to forget all about Sesame Street and started thinking more of Wall Street…what a dirty, crowded street!!! (We all know that deep inside they secretly still longed to be on Sesame Street!) But we’ve all become well rounded successful adults who can somewhat speak at least two languages and who will never throw something in a trash can without looking first to see if anyone is in there.

Kids today continue to watch Sesame Street on their gigantic flat screen 60” TV screens and I have all confidence that kids tomorrow will continue to watch and love this show as much as I did as a child. I’m also certain that we’re a much better country because of this famous street with furry the creatures! I certainly credit my ability to read, my math skills and my short attention span to Sesame Street and I feel that I’m a much better person because of it. So, my fellow Americans, pull out that Tickle Me Elmo and celebrate this award winning television show !