The Great, Holy Mr. Rogers

Oh, I needed to read this wonderful piece on Fred Rogers today!

As for the agenda of “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood”, it was deeply resonant with the agenda God offers us as co-creators of our life and world, and with the comfort of being held in good hands. First and always was the affirmation of unconditional love: “I like you just the way you are” is what every child heard from Fred every single day. That’s a message any of us would welcome hearing ourselves.

Some parents, however, misunderstood that statement, noting a preschool child’s numerous means of irritating them. But there was no reason for Fred not to deliver that message; after all, the viewing child was not annoying Fred. This isn’t to say that Fred didn’t have empathy for parents. Himself the father of two sons, he well knew the challenges of parenting. And some of his songs, like “What Do You Do With the Mad That You Feel”, were written to help children constructively manage their own impulsive behavior.

But Fred was not there to dispense lessons and rules. He was there to be a grace note in children’s lives.

Read it all. Mr. Rogers was not just a grace note in children’s lives. My Elder Son adored him, and we would together together watch him, each afternoon. Once, when he wondered about something Mr. Rogers had said, I encouraged my son to write to him with the question. He received a prompt and kind response from Fred Rogers, congratulating him on thinking up the question and giving a satisfying answer. A few years later, I wrote my own letter to Mr. Rogers, thanking him for something he had taught me through his show, and also for being the personification of human kindness that seemed so “otherworldly” to me that I knew it was a model of grace for all of us — communicated through his modest, centered person. Again, a prompt, very kind response.

He was a holy, even priestly, man. Certainly he was everything the story below this one is not — a champion for the dignity of the human person. He was the antidote to all of that.

Note that he didn’t say, “God bless you”. This is important. Saying “God bless you” would have been superfluous. Fred was not goading God to up and do something useful for a change. He knew that God had already blessed them, couldn’t help but bless them, would always bless them.

“May God be with you” meant, “I hope that you are aware that God is with you” — Fred’s invitation to savor God’s imminence and transcendence and personal presence, and to put a Name to it.

I wish I had a gram of his kindness and ease-of-manner. Here are great Fred Rogers moments. The second is discussed in the article: