pokemon lessons

Watching seven hours of Pokemon this weekend may seem redundant considering these are all episodes I watched about 18 months ago (and which I also remember from when I watched them on tv like 13 years ago), but I must say that this time around I learned something new. I realized a lot of the lessons that Pokemon teaches children are actually pretty good, though they aren't the explicit ones you would think would come from a kid's anime show. Maybe I'm just stretching here, but I think they're pretty good at subconsciously teaching us to be good people.

1. Being nice to mean people is always the right thing to do, though it's hard (see Ash et al. saving Team Rocket from drowning in the St. Anne).
2. Sass and stubbornness are funny but they don't make you friends (see Pikachu all the time).
3. You should accept people as they are and accept that you don't have the right to change them (consider Ash not making Pikachu evolve to defeat Raichu).
4. In relationships, quality is better than quantity and it's better to surround yourself with people who you care about than people who are powerful (a general metaphor from Ash's encounters with trainers like AJ who are pretty tough on their Pokemon).
5. Having hope and faith distinguishes people of good character from cowards.
6. Street smarts can be more important than book smarts (see all those preps from Pokemon Tech).
7. No one likes to be underestimated because of their age/any other reason.
8. Persistence pays off.
9. There are no bad Pokemon, just bad masters (as we learn from Ekans). This doesn't exactly apply to people...but I guess there is no person worth hating, just their decisions?
10. You should respect animals' natural habitats (Tentacool, Digletts, etc.).
11. Mottos are way better than songs, and you should hold onto your values (Team Rocket does this so it's kind of a negative message, but Ash always cares for his Pokemon).
12. It's ok to admit you made a mistake (Ash trading away Butterfree, Ash not properly defeating Brock, etc.).
13. Some theme songs are so awesome that you can listen to them and sing along to them like 24 times in one day, so if your theme song is not that good you should keep looking for a better one. Seriously.

This is so much Pokemon love.