Cottontail

A gentle visionary who built joy from the inside out.

The man who gave voice to Kermit the Frog never raised that voice — he simply made the world lean in closer. Jim Henson embodied the cottontail's defining paradox: a soft, unassuming exterior concealing extraordinary creative power, preferring collaboration and warmth over ego and dominance. Like the cottontail, who thrives not through force but through imagination and adaptability, Henson built the Muppets from scraps of ping-pong balls and fabric, once famously noting that "the most sophisticated people I know — inside they are all children." His lifelong instinct to nurture others — mentoring performers, protecting the gentle spirit of Sesame Street, and insisting that television could uplift rather than diminish — mirrors the cottontail's deep communal loyalty and its gift for making even the largest spaces feel intimate and safe.