Last weekend, I got out of town with my gal for my birthday. We stayed at a really cool horse farm in Dublin, PA. As part of my birthday present, Joannie also bought tickets to the Michener Museum's exhibit, "Jim Henson's Fantastic World". It was a bullseye of a gift. Henson is a lifetime hero of mine. When I say that, I am not only referring to the work he's done, but his reasoning behind it as well. I believe that even though he seemed to be a perfectionist, his main objective was to make people happy and spread joy in this world. I once saw a televised interview where Henson was talking about the purpose of his work. He quoted a French writer named Antione de Saint-Exupery, "We do not inherit the Earth from our parents, we borrow it from our children." Hearing that as a young man, I was struck by the potential that human beings can have on one another. Teaching and cartooning, I still try to keep that quote in mind in my daily work.
If I were to carve out my version of Mount Rushmore, Jim Henson would definitely be one of the faces.
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