{"id":2383,"date":"2018-07-20T08:49:56","date_gmt":"2018-07-20T13:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/?p=2383"},"modified":"2018-08-13T10:56:33","modified_gmt":"2018-08-13T15:56:33","slug":"we-need-mr-rogers-more-than-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/we-need-mr-rogers-more-than-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"We Need Mr. Rogers More Than Ever"},"content":{"rendered":"

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>

\u201cAnyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Fred Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n

|\u2014\u2014\u2014|<\/p>\n

Fifty years ago, a children\u2019s show titled Mr. Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood<\/em> was added to what would eventually be known as the Public Broadcasting Service \u2014 PBS. The Rev. Fred Rogers, an ordained Presbyterian minister, had been producing and appearing in a number of children\u2019s television shows in Pennsylvania for 15 years. Rogers had a degree in music and was an accomplished pianist and song composer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My two oldest daughters watched and loved Mr. Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood<\/em>. I remember them sitting on the floor as close to the television as possible, watching with rapt attention. Daughter Abbie several years later watched it as well. They all still fondly recall the show.<\/p>\n

For 33 years, Mr. Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood<\/em> filled TV screens across the nation, and generations of children gathered to watch and listen. Mr. Rogers and his puppet characters \u2014 King Friday, XIII, Lady Elaine Fairchilde (patterned after his sister) and Daniel Strip\u00e9d Tiger \u2013 talked about topics of concern to kids: death of a loved one, physical handicaps, bullying, and war. At a time when swimming pools were still segregated, Mr. Rogers invited his black police officer friend, Officer Clemons, to join him soaking his feet in a wading pool during a hot summer day.<\/p>\n

To jaded adults, Mr. Rogers could make an easy target with his gentle voice, goofy cardigans and simple songs. Some of the satires were genuinely funny, such as Eddie Murphy\u2019s on Saturday Night Live<\/em>. (View here: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ycwjf678<\/strong><\/a>) <\/strong>Others were mean-spirited and unkind.<\/p>\n

Throughout his long career, Mr. Rogers, who died of cancer in 2003, told children that they were loved, that they were special, and that he accepted them for who they were. He once wrote, \u201cLove isn\u2019t a state of caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is right here and now.\u201d That is consistent with Mr. Rogers\u2019 Christian upbringing and training. He viewed Mr. Rogers\u2019 Neighborhood<\/em> as his ministry. As his producer said in Won\u2019t You Be My Neighbor? \u2014 <\/em>the recent documentary about him \u2014 Mr. Rogers\u2019 formula was to \u201ctake all of the elements that make good television and do the exact opposite.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the documentary, one senses the steel behind Rogers\u2019s gentle demeanor, especially when he criticized children\u2019s television programming, which was often violent \u2014 cartoon characters bonking each other, heroes and villains wielding weapons, commercials peddling sugary products and toy guns. The documentary recounts when Rogers appeared before a Senate subcommittee in 1969 to argue against slashing funding for public television, so more money could be spent on the Vietnam War. He recited a song: What Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel?<\/em><\/p>\n

I can stop when I want to. <\/em><\/p>\n

Can stop when I wish. <\/em><\/p>\n

Can stop, stop, stop anytime … <\/em><\/p>\n

And what a good feeling to feel like this! <\/em><\/p>\n

And know that the feeling is really mine.<\/em><\/p>\n

Know that there\u2019s something deep inside that helps us become what we can.<\/em><\/p>\n

For a girl can be someday a lady, and a boy can be someday a man.<\/em><\/p>\n

The subcommittee\u2019s chairman, the crusty Sen. John Pastore, was visibly moved, saying, \u201cI\u2019m supposed to be a pretty tough guy, and this is the first time I\u2019ve had goose bumps for the last two days,\u201d he said. \u201cLooks like you just earned the $20 million.\u201d<\/p>\n

|\u2014\u2014\u2014|<\/p>\n

One has to be mighty cynical not to be moved by Won\u2019t You Be My Neighbor<\/em>. When My Beautiful Mystery Companion and I watched it last week at the Robinson Film Center in Shreveport \u2014 our favorite movie venue \u2014 there were few dry eyes. As the film ended, I couldn\u2019t help but wonder how Fred Rogers would explain the horrors taking place today in this country \u2014 the mass shootings of children in schools, refugee children wrenched from the arms of their parents, the nearly ubiquitous loss of civility. I am confident he would have known exactly what to say to our children.<\/p>\n

He always did. I wish he were still around.<\/p>\n

|\u2014\u2014\u2014|<\/p>\n

\u201cMost of us, I believe, admire strength. It\u2019s something we tend to respect in others, desire for ourselves, and wish for our children. Sometimes, though, I wonder if we confuse strength and other words \u2014 like\u00a0aggression\u00a0and even\u00a0violence. Real strength is neither male nor female; but is, quite simply, one of the finest characteristics that any human being can possess.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2014 Fred Rogers (1928 \u2013 2003)<\/em><\/p>\n

Print this entry<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Print this entry\u201cAnyone who does anything to help a child in his life is a hero to me.\u201d \u2014 Fred Rogers |\u2014\u2014\u2014| Fifty years ago, a children\u2019s show titled Mr. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[55,38],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-55","category-columns"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2383"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2406,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2383\/revisions\/2406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/garyborders.com\/pages\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}