Poor Big Bird. He learned the hard lessons about death. And now he might have to learn about unemployment as well.
Here’s the description of the following Sesame Street scene:
The actor who played Mr. Hooper on Sesame Street, Will Lee, died. The Sesame Street people decided to let the character die too, and used it as an opportunity to teach children about death.
This clip demonstrates how to treat death in an honest and helpful way better than any evasive or euphemistic gibberish I’ve heard from allegedly mature people.
Grab some tissues and hit play:
Naturally, it is devoid of any and all religion. I will not be showing that to anyone. My opinion? They could have included that “Some” people believe that he is in heaven, and leave it at that. That would be a good segway to speak to children about life and to give them hope in a possible “afterlife” instead of he’s just dead and never coming back. How depressing. I’m not looking for an argument, I’m just sick of this government taking God (= hope) out of everything.
Although I am not a “religious” person, I can understand where believer is coming from. I too felt the “just because” answer to be a little harsh. I don’t think I would have been satisfied with that answer when I was a child. Having said that, it did leave the door open for conversation between parents & children. Big Bird gave parents an the perfect opportunity to fill in the blanks!