Won't You Be My Neighbor?

Today is the birthday of one of the most important people ever to appear on television.

Born in 1928 in Pennsylvania, Fred McFeely Rogers grew up to entertain millions of children while hosting his "neighborhood" for more than thirty years.  I watched him as a child and as a parent.  Who among us doesn't remember Daniel Striped Tiger, X the Owl, and Henrietta Pussycat?

Mr. Roger's Neighborhood began on PBS in 1968.  Not much changed over the thirty years it aired.  Mr. Rogers came home, put on his sweater, changed into his sneakers, fed his fish, and sang songs he composed himself. Some days he showed us videos of how things worked or how they were made. Other days we visited with the neighborhood mailman.  We went with Trolley to the Neighborhood of Make-Believe to visit the King and Queen and their friends. We listened while Mr. Rogers and his friends explained that it was normal to be scared sometimes but that bad things weren't going to happen to us.  Going to school the first day might be scary, but we would have nice teachers and learn lots of fun things.  We might be afraid if we had to go to the hospital, but the nice doctors and nurses there would make us feel much better.  Sometimes people might hurt our feelings and make us cry, but those people didn't really mean to make us sad, and we were perfect just the way we were.  He talked to us in child-like terms, but he never talked down to us.  He was the rational, soft-spoken adult who understood how important it was to make children feel special.  He wanted to make us feel better about ourselves. Mr. Rogers wanted us all to know we were loved.

Fred Rogers, musician, puppeteer, minister, TV personality, child advocate, and all-around nice man, would have been 83 today.  Sadly, shortly after retiring from television, Mr. Rogers was diagnosed with stomach cancer and died in 2003.

So today, if the weather is chilly where you live, pull out your favorite cardigan and your best sneakers, feed your fish, and remember that a simple man cared about your feelings.  And pay it forward.

Because this is what I know.  We could use someone that genuine in our lives today.  And so could our children.