In the Tipping Point, middle-brow about town Malcolm Gladwell cites rather convincing evidence that Blues Clues, that maddeningly simple television show featuring an azure canine, taught kids more about life than Sesame Street. Sesame Street he claims, en bref, was too complicated for the psyche's of tiny tots. He's wrong and here's why.First there's the little matter of reading test scores in American students which have been plummeting since the seventies and markedly since the aughts. But that is due to an entire range of factors. The real answer is both deeper and less scientifically supported. It is accurate that children may follow the oversimplified primary-colored repetitive plots of Blues Clues. But is that what life is all about? Based on not only the above clip of Sesame Street animation set to music Philip Glass composed specifically for the show but this clip, featuring Judy Collins singing "Bring in the Clowns" while clowns execute turned-in pirouettes in the background from The Muppet Show and my life experience, the answer is no. Both of the earlier shows taught an invaluable life lesson: Much of what is beautiful is rare and hard to comprehend. What makes it beautiful does not make sense. "What the fuck?" (albeit expressed in milder toddlerspeak) is often the prelude to the discovery of the sublime. Also, life never makes much more sense than it does when you're three and watching a bunch of clowns dance to a sad song. You just learn to see the beauty in it.