Muppets Forever

Recently, I was feeling in need of some inspiration. Right now, a lot of people are looking to "The Last Lecture" for their inspiration. I'm sure it is a great book and lecture and I've heard he was a wonderful man who lived a very fulfilling life. But I'm most inspired by the Muppets. I've learned a lot from my plush friends, and from the man who created them. I started re-reading a book about the man behind the Muppets to find my inspiration.

I won't give you the timeline of his life. But I will tell you a lot of the things that I admire about him.

He was incredibly creative and creating. For one, inventing a new style of puppets and puppetry is pretty damn amazing. He was continually creating, not stopping with one success. He learned from successes and mistakes. Each change and alteration in his creative process built on the one before. His craft grew from his initial crude puppets to the Muppets, to the full body puppets like Big Bird, to the delicate puppets of The Dark Crystal (1982).

He cultivated an humor that reaches across generations and countries. The Muppets make me laugh, they make my parents laugh, they make my kids laugh. It never stops being funny to me.

He used his creativity to make change in the world. He was integral to the beginning of Sesame Street, helping to ensure the success of a program designed to help inner city children be competitive in school. Fraggle Rock was designed to promote understanding across different races and cultures, and was translated and distributed to many different countries.

I think one of my most favorite things, though is the way he remained true to himself despite the changes in his life. He was described as a caring, humorous, and loving person who was serious about his craft, and strove to continually be better. I want to be just like Jim Henson when I grow up.