After this week’s tragedy in Boston, the
media reminded us of advice Mr. Rogers offered after September 11th:
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the
news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the
helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” To this day, especially
in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words and I am always comforted
by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in
this world.
For many years, millions of children
visited Mr. Rogers Neighborhood every
day. They listened as Mr. Rogers talked directly to them. They traveled to the
Neighborhood of Make Believe to work out issues that related to their young
lives. Many moms and dads joined them there because Mr. Rogers was so
comforting, so caring, so gentle, and so kind. Everyone felt safe there.
Many wonderful tributes have been written
about Fred Rogers who was definitely deserving of praise. But here’s
where we get it all wrong. Mr. Rogers
didn’t want us to praise him. He didn’t ask
us to watch his neighbors. He didn’t ask us to enjoy his neighbors. He asked us
to BE his neighbors.
He sang, “Won’t you please, won’t you
please, please won’t you be my neighbor?” He wasn’t teaching us to appreciate
kind and gentle people. He was asking us to BE kind and gentle people. With his
show, and with his life, he was showing us how to be a good neighbor.
Who can we
look to now that Mr. Rogers is gone to teach us to be kind and gentle, to
listen, to help, to share? Fred answered
that question for us. That person is
you. That person is me. It is my job to
carry on his mission. I can be
kind. I can be gentle. I can listen and share and love my neighbors. We can still BE Mr. Rogers’ neighbors. He
showed us how. Now it’s up to us to take over. Be a neighbor and teach your
children to be neighbors too. Then it will truly be a beautiful day in every
neighborhood.
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