Tuesday, February 19, 2008

My Neighbor

40 years ago today Mister Rogers' Neighborhood came on television. There aren't words available to me to express how much Mister Rogers, along with Sesame Street and additional public television, mean to me. I know that there continues to be a discussion in our society about how television can affect the young mind, but I have no doubt whatsoever that I would not be the person I am without the exposure I had as a child to these programs. I learned so much from Mr. Rogers, and his dedication to the education and well-being of all children he could manage to reach makes him one of the most admirable people of our current society, in my opinion. To put it as simply as possible, a person like Mr. Rogers gives me faith in humanity. If you'd like to have a visit with the my favorite neighbor, you should check out Fred Rogers: America's Favorite Neighbor. It's not only interesting, it's inspiring. This clip is maybe one of the best things I've heard lately. I think I'll probably come back to it repeatedly when I need to feel good about something, for those times when it's hard to feel good about anything.

4 comments:

Katie said...

Holy crap, that made me cry! I pretty much love that guy.

MrsEm said...

Gah! Mr. Rogers just made me cry. He's such a wonderful person.

Jenny said...

I think my children would've loved Mr Rogers. So Sad.

Jessica said...

Jenny, my local PBS station still runs Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. Maybe your's does too so your kids don't have to miss out completely. There are also some Mister Roger books, which I imagine can only be great.