Should I Hate Mr. Ratburn Now?

Arthur (the children’s cartoon on PBS) was a fixture in our household for a number of years. Both of my children enjoyed watching and we even had a few of the books in our home library. I suspect my entire family can still sing the theme song. I certainly know it by heart. Arthur was a safe place to learn about manners and about handling bullies. With a cast made up of a number of different types of animals the cartoon was also a safe place to learn how people who are different can get along. But Arthur’s 22nd season began with a twist, one with which I suspect Christian parents will struggle. How we handle this twist will shape the beliefs of our children. Our responses will also affect how the church is seen from the outside.

This plot twist involves Mr. Ratburn, a third grade teacher who has been a part of the cartoon since its start. For twenty one seasons Mr. Ratburn has been a calm (but not perfect) mentor to the students of his class, representing an adult point of view for dealing with the ups and downs of being a child. This year we learn something about Mr. Ratburn which to my knowledge has never been talked about in any other episode. In this season’s premier episode Mr. Ratburn marries an aardvark: an aardvark who showed up for the wedding in a suit and tie.

So, how should followers of Christ deal with this plot twist? The knee jerk reaction is one of anger, lashing out at the show and its writers. I think this is the wrong response. For 21 years there was nothing wrong with the cartoon (aside from controversy over an episode of its spin-off “Postcards from Buster”). If parents suddenly slam the door on the series we send the message that Christians are afraid of and/or hate people who, in real life, are like Mr. Ratburn. We leave our own children with the wrong impression of how they should deal with real world issues. We also send the wrong message to people outside the church to whom we are called to minister. In order to avoid sending the wrong message believers should avoid the knee jerk reaction we are told we must have, choosing instead to trust God’s Spirit to give us the words we need in order to minister instead of trying to fight back. In other words we need to have a conversation with our children and with others who might be curious about our views.

Yes, I am certain that Mr. Ratburn’s wedding is meant to deliver a certain point of view, one that is at odds with the Christian faith. But we are told that our battle is not with flesh and blood. And so we must avoid the temptation to fight back out of a spirit of fear and hate, choosing instead the wisdom and love that can only come from our relationship with Christ. We must respond by being the light both in our homes and in our community.

No, I do not hate Mr. Ratburn. Nor should you.

Do you watch tv with your children?

On the day I finished this post I read about an Alabama PBS station which refused to show the episode. In their explanation they spoke of how parents trust PBS to provide programming that is safe for children to watch alone. I never trusted PBS or any other station, choosing to watch with my children. In fact even if the programming was “Christian programming,” I watched. (I know a lot of VeggieTales songs by heart.) I felt safer doing this and it gave opportunity to bond with my children.

Here is a link to a post where, while watching tv with one of my children, I found myself asking, Have We Lost Our True Heroes?