Be a Fred Rogers

Earlier this week, I was thinking about the movie It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood. It's about Fred Rogers. (If you haven't seen it, btw, you should) It was a little different than I expected; I thought it would be more biographical about Mr. Rogers. If anything, the biography side was more about the reporter. But what the film was really about was the influence and impact that Fred Rogers had on people. It truly honored his memory and his legacy.

Fred Rogers was such a good man; he was kind and gentle and loving. The more I have learned of him, the more I've seen how much he wanted to do good in the world and how much good he accomplished. His focus seemed to be on children, because of the tv show, but he exuded love for people of all kinds. He was patient and forgiving. Such an example of kindness, respect, and tolerance.

There's a scene in the film where the reporter is talking to Mrs. Rogers and she tells him how Fred had a temper, but always worked to keep it in check. How he always thought about his words before he spoke. It was a short and sweet scene, but so important. Just like Mr. Rogers did in his TV show, it showed us how he wasn't just gifted with patience or perfect words. He had to work at it. I believe his love for others, his desire to help them, was deep and genuine. But I love knowing it didn't always come easy.

I am a Christian and believe in a loving Heavenly Father who wants us to love one another. I know not everyone believes as I do. That's why people like Fred Rogers are so important. While he was a man of faith, he didn't express his love for others as contingent upon or as an extension of his love for God. He just loved people. And it showed because he treated them with kindness, patience, tolerance, and understanding. Fred Rogers taught us all how to be a good human being.

The world needs more of that. More loving kindness, more forgiveness, more tolerance.

American society has become so self-centered and self-righteous. There are those who feel entitled to be cruel simply because they can be - especially online when they don't have to face the victim of their hatefulness. There are those who promote selfishness. The media and entertainment industries shove narrow-minded ideas in our faces constantly. Celebrities are revered as if being famous somehow makes them intelligent and wise and many of them abuse that position. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Mountains aren’t moved in the blink of an eye, Mountains are moved one grain of dirt at a time.  Just like the world will not change overnight. The world will change one person, one act of kindness, one moment of compassion, at a time. Kindness and compassion many of us learned (at least in part) from a simple, but inspired, children's TV show.