Elmo’s World and Ours

I just finished watching a 20 minute interview with Elmo on YouTube. It was really funny to watch a bunch of people send in questions to a children’s puppet, honestly hoping that they’d be answered. It was also really interesting. I bet you didn’t know that Elmo has a dad who’s in the military and currently deployed. Or the reason why he has no eyelids is because his favorite food is wasabi (I still don’t get that.) And at times, it was really touching. Like Elmo saying that his idea of the meaning of life was respecting elders and loving everyone. It was a pretty well done for an interview with a forever 3 and a half year old monster.

A while back some of my friends asked me if I still watched Sesame Street. When I told them that I did every now and then, they all responded with shock. They were like “Isn’t there anything else to watch on TV?” Truth be told, sometimes I don’t feel like there’s anything better to watch on TV. Controversy sells, and most of the shows on TV all try way too hard to be shocking and disturbing enough to stir up some press on it. But that’s not the reason why I still watch Sesame Street. I watch it because I believe the things they show are still a big part of life.

Now I don’t mean that we need to be reminded of the alphabet or how to count to 20. We’ll always remember the hard facts that we learn. I’m talking about all the life lessons to that are given. The fact that asking questions is still a good way to find out things. That if the situation warrants it, it’s still ok to cry. And that the imagination could still be used for the most wonderful of things. These may all sound like very childish things, but in fact, they are things that still apply to us today. Sure, situations may become more complicated, but the foundational principles of our lives still remain the same. Society tells us if we want to grow up, we must abandon our childhood impressions and embrace the “real world”. But to me, that makes no sense. What would be the point of all the years we spent going through the richest of learning experiences if all of it means nothing in the end? We like to think that when we leave all these things behind that we have become ‘mature’. But that’s not being mature. That’s pretending that a part of our lives doesn’t exist. Real maturity comes when you learn to balance both parts of your life. When you hold on to simple basics and build on them, embracing life with all of you.

Someone who spends all their time trying to relive their childhood is pretty weird. But it’s good thing to every now and then to go back to the things we used to enjoy. To watch our favorite Saturday morning cartoon or to read our favorite childhood book. To remind ourselves of our roots and to remember that we don’t have to abandon these things to be adults. There's a reason why "the good old days" are called "good".Elmo’s world and ours may be very different, but some things still remain the same.