Our Best Neighbor

Our Best Neighbor 

When our daughter was young, there were very few people outside of the family we trusted with her care. But there was one person I felt comfortable leaving her with for an hour every day; a person I knew would treat her as the very special person she was, who would introduce her to the wonder of the world, who would teach her to care, cooperate and share. He was so kind and gentle that I often joined her for one of his visits. We sat right down in our family room, turned on the TV, and welcomed Mr. Rogers into our home.  He was a good neighbor.

On February 27, 2003, Mr. Rogers left us behind as he went to a new neighborhood. But the things he taught us remain. 

While a youngster, his grandfather McFeely told him, “Freddy, you know you made this day a really special day just by being yourself.  There’s only one person in the world like you, and I like you just the way you are.” Fred never forgot that lesson. He grew up and attended Rollins College in Florida, studying music. Returning to Pittsburgh intending to enter seminary, he took notice of a new phenomenon -- television.  He was appalled by what he saw, pies in the face and put-down humor, and right then and there felt a new calling -- from a ministry in the church to a ministry to children in television.  

The programs he created will continue. His neighborhood is a safe haven for all children. From the minute Mr. Rogers steps singing through his front door, hangs up his coat and puts on his sweater (sweaters made by his mother, one of which is hanging in the Smithsonian Institute), and changes into his sneakers, a world of magic -- a kind and gentle magic -- is opened to every viewer.    

Children learn to wonder about the world, to want to find out about how things are made. They learn that fish need feeding and adults care about the things that cause children to fear or ask questions.  Children ride the trolley into the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, where a cast of puppets, each with its own distinct personality, work through some of the same problems they have. Prince Tuesday worried that his mother, Sarah Saturday, and his father, King Friday XIII would divorce. Henrietta Pussycat and Anna Platypus think about friendship and school.

 

Music fills Mr. Rogers's world.  It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, What Do You Do?, There Are Many Ways to Say I Love You,  Sometimes People Are Good and It’s Such a Good Feeling are just some of the many songs Fred uses to teach children about the world.  In Make-Believe the neighbors often put on operas. Everyone gets to choose who or what part to play, even if it doesn’t fit exactly into the opera story.  X the Owl always wants to play Benjamin Franklin -- and he always does.  

Fred Rogers received many awards. Each time, he asked the audience to “take along with me ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are, those who have cared about you and wanted the best for you in life.” He wanted us not only to remember those people but also to become those people. 

Fred’s favorite saying hangs in his home office. It comes from The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exbury: “What is essential is invisible to the eye.” Two generations of children learned that lesson from Fred. Now it’s our turn to teach children the lessons he taught us: that we are all special, that it is more important to get along than to win, that it is all right to get mad or sad, that it is good to be filled with wonder, to be gentle, to sing, to be yourself

Mr. Rogers remained a special friend in our house even after the children were grown. Over the years, our daughter wrote to him sharing her concerns and asking for his advice. I wrote to him too, about the family and my students. He always answered, personally, inquiring after our family and offering encouragement to my students and me. Fred was our personal friend. I like to think that Fred was a personal friend to everyone.  

 

Our daughter never forgot the lessons Fred taught her. She is gentle, remembers to stop and wonder, loves to make music, looks for the best in people and knows that she, and every other person in the world, is special. With his encouragement, she joined the Peace Corps and served as a teacher in Africa. She taught her students what Fred taught her. She’s teaching her own children now. Every day, it’s a beautiful day in a new neighborhood because of Fred and those who loved him.