“The world needs a sense of worth, and it will achieve it only by its people feeling that they are worthwhile…Try your best to make goodness attractive. That’s one of the toughest assignments you’ll ever be given.”
― Fred Rogers
I suspect with all the madness surrounding our politics and acrimony in the world we all yearn for a quieter more harmonious place — a place where neighbors are kind to one another and strangers are seen as friends.
I’m thinking about a place like Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood.
Where every day you could count on
- new things to be learned,
- new friends to be made and
- new ways of looking at life to be shared.
In Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood the world was seen just a little differently. All people, no matter their shapes or sizes, were treated as just people.
In Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood what mattered was what was on the inside.
“Part of the problem with the word disabilities is that it immediately suggests an inability to see or hear or walk or do other things that many of us take for granted. But what of people who can’t feel? Or talk about their feelings? Or manage their feelings in constructive ways? What of people who aren’t able to form close and strong relationships? And people who cannot find fulfillment in their lives, or those who have lost hope, who live in disappointment and bitterness and find in life no joy, no love? These, it seems to me, are the real disabilities.” — Fred Rogers
One day when I was in bed with the flu I came upon Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood while channel surfing. I found that in no time I was immersed in this delightful, multi-cultural, happy world.
It turned out to be the perfect medicine for what ailed me: a bunch of full-hearted people being kind to one another.
On this particular day Mr. Rogers was hosting a group of visitors from all over the world:
- A little girl from China
- A boy from Pakistan
- Twin sisters from the Congo
- A boy from Arkansas
These children were each tenderly introduced to Mr. Rogers’ neighbors:
- Mr. McFeely
- Officer Clemons
- Handyman Negri
- Mayor Maggie
- Bob Dog
As I hoisted myself up in bed, I imagined being a welcome visitor, and the next 30 minutes I was transported out of my suffocating little world and into this congenial place where everyone was everyone’s best friend.
I heard a number of things from my visit to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood worth sharing (all quotes from Fred Rogers):
🪄The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.
🪄Discovering the truth about ourselves is a lifetime’s work, but it’s worth the effort.
🪄The kingdom of God is for the broken-hearted.
🪄Life is for service.
🪄Sometimes I think the solution to 99% of the problems I face is simply a conversation away.
🪄Little by little we human beings are confronted with situations that give us more and more clues that we are not perfect.
🪄There is no normal life that is free of pain. It’s the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth.
🪄It’s not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It’s the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is good stuff.
It was strange how Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood got under my skin. I found myself asking:
- What kind of neighbor am I?
- Is my door open to anyone?
- Is my welcome mat rolled out?
Maybe the larger question we need to be asking ourselves in this time of deep divisions is what would it mean for us all to become Mr. Rogers kind of neighbors.
“It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood,
A beautiful day for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?…”
Just a thought…
Pat