3. I Love Trash - Oscar the Grouch
Oscar's signature song is not only memorable for being a rare occurrence of grouch joy, but it also has the distinction of being the most un-educational song on the show. No talk about letters or numbers or manners or pleasant life concepts. Just a celebration of trash.
To a child, everything in the world is a new experience. It is through conditioning and experience that the child learns not to touch the stove or not to eat what the dog is eating. And one area of the house that children learn to avoid is the trash can. Once something goes into the trash, it should remain there forever more. Kids learn that they are doing a "good job" when they throw their litter away and get reprimanded when they drag that refuse back out into the open.
So here comes a song that contradicts everything they have learned up until this point. Trash = Bad, to a child. But here is a song that highlights and recognizes the beauty in that which is, by it's very nature, unsanitary and unwanted. They have now learned about perspective.
Just because their culture has brought them up to consider certain aspects of life good or bad, right or wrong, it doesn't mean the entire world subscribes to this point of view. Not everything is so black and white. There is room for change, for new appreciation, for new experiences.
Maybe we shouldn't be so quick to throw things out.
Give trash a chance.
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