Fred Rogers: It's a Wonderful Day in the Neighborhood...

Growing up, I was more of a Captain Kangaroo type of kid, as compared to Mr. Rogers.

The Captain was on at eight in the morning. And almost as soon as our family owned a television, I was hooked. In fact, Captain Kangaroo and his Treasure House served as my stay-at-home preschool.

Mr. Rogers came on in the afternoon. Everyone once in a blue moon I watched it, but not sufficiently so to become a fan.

The few times I did tune in, it seemed to me, that the flow of the show was too slow. No sarcasm to speak of. And the neighborhood Mr. Rogers lived in was far too gentle for my liking.

Fast-forward six decades later and Mr. Rogers seems a whole lot more appealing.

The thing of it is, Fred Rogers genuinely cared about kids, and the quality of the television programs they watched.

He even went before congress one time and talked about it.

And then, there's his neighborhood.

Remember the opening song?

"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood!"

A great way to set a kid's mind at ease, isn't it? Automatic reassurance, affirmation, invitation.

"I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you!"

Come to Mr. Roger's neighborhood, just as you are. No preconditions. Total, unconditional invite to join. Everyone is accepted and welcomed.

"I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you."

Mr. Rogers not only wants you as his neighbor, he is unequivocally letting you know that this is no mere spur-of-the-moment decision. He isn't capriciously doling out friendship. It's heartfelt. Intentional. Real.

"Please, won't you be my neighbor?"

Considering all of the above, Mr. Rogers finishes up his invite by letting us know - in no uncertain terms - that he's extending an invitation.

No border walls. No threats. No flip-flopping, No uncertainty borne of insecurity.

Pure.

Open.

Honest as it can possible be.

What a refreshing breath of fresh air to the hyper-critical, hyper-active, hyper-everything society we live in today.

Annie Murphy Paul, a science journalist, recently wrote a review of a new biography of Fred Rogers written by Maxwell King.

She writes:

"Rogers' show was earnest, quirky, amateurish in the best sense of the word: It was also groundbreaking. Into the lily-white world of midcentury children's programming, Rogers invited actors of diverse backgrounds... In the 1970s Rogers became a vegetarian, offering as his reason another understated gem: 'I don't want to eat anything that has a mother.'"

Murphy Paul notes the faith of Rogers. "For eight years, he slipped away from his duties at the television station three or four times a week to attend classes at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary; he was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1963."

And as Fred Rogers said: "Love is at the root of everything. All learning. All relationships. Love, or the lack of it."

Perhaps it was this foundation upon which Mr. Rogers built his neighborhood.

-------

For extra credit: Here's a TED Talk given by Annie Murphy Paul, about fetal origins research, titled What We Learn Before We're Born.  She has written two books and you can get more details about them on her author's page at Simon & Schuster.
-------

Photo Credits: Top, PBS, Bottom, The Columbian