Self Control and The Cookie Monster

I'll admit that as a full grown adult I should not be getting huge epiphanies of life lessons from children's television programming. But just as Sesame Street has a sacred place in my childhood, I now hold it with entirely new respect.

Every morning at 7 am we turn on Sesame Street for my son, almost 18 months. About 15 minutes in to every episode is the time to reveal The Letter of The Day. Today is was V. Everyday Cookie Monster introduces it, sometimes with his friend Prarie Dawn. But everyday Cookie Monster eats The Letter of The Day. Prarie Dawn will try to stop him. Even Cookie Monster's own efforts to not eat The Letter of The Day go fruitless. It brought about this line from a recent episode:

"Hey let's face it. You know it. I know it. Let's just get it over with... Come to Papa!"

I wonder how many times you and I want to do something better with our lives, or want to stop acting in some annoying or destructive manner, and just don't make it. How often do we give up when it starts to get too hard to change? "Hey, let's face it..." Have you ever said this yourself? And we look silly. And people look at us funny, like I do at Cookie Monster - that slight little smile that goes right along with the word "pathetic." (as was noted one day when The Letter of The Day was P.)

Can't we do better? To quote another children's program; "Yes, we can!"