Posted on 05/31/2007 8:50:38 PM PDT by van_erwin
15 Reasons Mister Rogers Was the Best Neighbor Ever
Back when I was in 7th grade I stood up in front of my English class and delivered a tongue-in-cheek, poorly researched presentation on why I thought Mister Rogers should be the next President. I ate up the first few minutes zipping up my cardigan, and putting on some sneakers, and then I proceeded to mock him roundly. It was a riotous success. Fourteen years later, I’m using this post to repent. The following are 15 things everyone should know about Fred Rogers:
1. Even Koko the Gorilla loved him
Most people have heard of Koko, the Stanford-educated gorilla who could speak about 1000 words in American Sign Language, and understand about 2000 in English. What most people don’t know, however, is that Koko was an avid Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood fan. As Esquire reported, when Fred Rogers took a trip out to meet Koko for his show, not only did she immediately wrap her arms around him and embrace him, she did what she’d always seen him do onscreen: she proceeded to take his shoes off!
2. He Made Thieves Think Twice
According to a TV Guide piece on him, Fred Rogers drove a plain old Impala for years. One day, however, the car was stolen from the street near the TV station. When Rogers filed a police report, the story was picked up by every newspaper, radio and media outlet around town. Amazingly, within 48 hours the car was left in the exact spot where it was taken from, with an apology on the dashboard. It read, “If we’d known it was yours, we never would have taken it.”
3. He Watched His Figure to the Pound!
In covering Rogers’ daily routine (waking up at 5; praying for a few hours for all of his friends and family; studying; writing, making calls and reaching out to every fan who took the time to write him; going for a morning swim; getting on a scale; then really starting his day), writer Tom Junod explained that Mr. Rogers weighed in at exactly 143 pounds every day for the last 30 years of his life. He didn’t smoke, didn’t drink, didn’t eat the flesh of any animals, and was extremely disciplined in his daily routine. And while I’m not sure if any of that was because he’d mostly grown up a chubby, single child, Junod points out that Rogers found beauty in the number 143. According to the piece, Rogers came “to see that number as a gift… because, as he says, “the number 143 means ‘I love you.’ It takes one letter to say ‘I’ and four letters to say ‘love’ and three letters to say ‘you.’ One hundred and forty-three.”
4. He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR
Strange but true. When the government wanted to cut Public Television funds in 1969, the relatively unknown Mister Rogers went to Washington. Almost straight out of a Capra film, his 5-6 minute testimony on how TV had the potential to give kids hope and create more productive citizens was so simple but passionate that even the most gruff politicians were charmed. While the budget should have been cut, the funding instead jumped from $9 to $22 million. Rogers also spoke to Congress, and swayed senators into voting to allow VCR’s to record television shows from the home. It was a cantankerous debate at the time, but his argument was that recording a program like his allowed working parents to sit down with their children and watch shows as a family.
5. He Might Have Been the Most Tolerant American Ever
Mister Rogers seems to have been almost exactly the same off-screen as he was onscreen. Despite being an ordained Presbyterian minister, and a man of tremendous faith, Mister Rogers preached tolerance first. Whenever he was asked to castigate non-Christians or gays for their differing beliefs, he would instead face them and say, with sincerity, “God loves you just the way you are.” Often this provoked ire from fundamentalists.
6. He Was Genuinely Curious about Others
Mister Rogers was known as one of the toughest interviews because he’d often befriend reporters, asking them tons of questions, taking pictures of them, compiling an album for them at the end of their time together, and calling them after to check in on them and hear about their families. He wasn’t concerned with himself, and genuinely loved hearing the life stories of others. Amazingly, it wasn’t just with reporters. Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life—the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.
7. He was Color-blind
Literally. He couldn’t see the color blue. Of course, he was also figuratively color-blind, as you probably guessed. As were his parents who took in a black foster child when Rogers was growing up.
8. He Could Make a Subway Car full of Strangers Sing
Once while rushing to a New York meeting, there were no cabs available, so Rogers and one of his colleagues hopped on the subway. Esquire reported that the car was filled with people, and they assumed they wouldn’t be noticed. But when the crowd spotted Rogers, they all simultaneously burst into song, chanting “It’s a wonderful day in the neighborhood.” The result made Rogers smile wide.
A few other things:
9. He got into TV because he hated TV. The first time he turned one on, he saw people angrily throwing pies in each other’s faces. He immediately vowed to use the medium for better than that. Over the years he covered topics as varied as why kids shouldn’t be scared of a haircut, or the bathroom drain (because you won’t fit!), to divorce and war.
10. He was an Ivy League Dropout. Rogers moved from Dartmouth to Rollins College to pursue his studies in music.
11. He composed all the songs on the show, and over 200 tunes.
12. He was a perfectionist, and disliked ad libbing. He felt he owed it to children to make sure every word on his show was thought out.
13. Michael Keaton got his start on the show as an assistant– helping puppeteer and operate the trolley.
14. Several characters on the show are named for his family. Queen Sara is named after Rogers’ wife, and the postman Mr. McFeely is named for his maternal grandfather who always talked to him like an adult, and reminded young Fred that he made every day special just by being himself. Sound familiar? It was the same way Mister Rogers closed every show.
15. The sweaters. Every one of the cardigans he wore on the show had been hand-knit by his mother.
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“God loves you just the way you are.”
Yes, this is true. God loves the sinner, but hates the sin. That’s why Jesus loves people enough to have the guts to say to them, “Go and sin no more.”
Thank you D.C., it is so nice to have a friend agree with you - and tell you so!!
I know just exactly what you mean.
Thank you for being my friend.
DITTO, for sure!!
Thank you!
Nitey nite!
Oh, I don’t know that telling homosexuals that God “loves them just the way they are” is necessarily unorthodox. It depends on the spirit in which it is offered. “While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” God does love those that have fallen into the sin of homosexuality. He wants to save them and unburden them of it.
The author has made an assumption that, at this time, we do not know if he can prove. Just because you can "easily imagine" it doesn't mean that the author has no burden of proof. I, too, would like to see where fundamentalists denounced Mr. Rogers. If they did it should be easy to find on the internet.
Just go a few posts up the thread.
He was a true class act, the kind you don’t see too many of in the entertainment business. I didn’t grow up with him, as I’m Canadian and we didn’t have cable or live close enough to the US to receive PBS off the air. It’s clear, however, that he was a much-loved part of many, many people’s childhood. He worked in Canada with a man who did a somewhat similar show, “Mr. Dressup” - Ernie Coombs - or more precisely, Mr. Coombs worked with and learned from him.
I don’t understand. Do you mean some of the comments here? The author, I think, was making reference to past criticisms of Mr. Rogers, maybe even public ones. (The author really should have been more specific.)
If you are unrepentant, that is correct but the Christian has better options available.
However, the "God loves me just the way I am" is frequently used by homosexuals who claim to be Christians but refuse to repent of their sexual immorality. That's not how Christ explained it when He taught "Go and sin no more."
Not to be nitpickey, but that should be "It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood"...
So your “imaginings” trump proof? Sorry but your “imaginings” aren’t good enough for me.
He Saved Both Public Television and the VCR
Every man is entitled to a few mistakes so I’ll give him a pass for PBS.
Barney with two girls!!! Who does he think he is, a Kennedy???!!!
you see that's the problem...
am I sorry for the things I've done? yes
have I said so to the offended or injured person? sometimes yes, others no. (if they're dead it's hard to do, long story)
Have I "atoned" for the sin? I've tried by living my life and trying to help and care for people.
If placed in the same situation, would I repeat the sin?
In combat or in some other form of actions in areas of operations, presented with similar circumstances.... I know myself, yes I probably would do the same d#mn things again.
Now there's the rub. I've avoided the temptations as much as possible. Never put myself in situations where I could be tempted but it happens, women, booze, etc..... I'm older and not a soldier and the violence isn't a job description. But underneath my temperament hasn't changed and I fear that if placed in a confrontation or if someone or something were to hurt my family I would not be able to turn the cheek, accept God's will and I pray that I'm never given the full measure of God's test. The one that says "God knows your limits and will never give you more of a burden than you can bear with his support and faith in him." .......
Christians may have options, but to be truly repentant you have to change, you can't be the same old person...... you do need to be "born" again as a person of Christ. People like myself who need to, find it the hardest to change. We are weak and pathetic Christians in name only but afraid of what giving it all up would mean and if God truly would be there to help us.
I was reading the posts of some of the guys that know the Bible and how certain they are of what is what and who is going to heaven and who the bad people are.......
I've been around awhile and I can pretty much tell you that there are very few really "good" people and even those that are "good" could hide a secret inside that only God and themselves are aware of. so whose to know?
I realize it's off topic but thanks for letting me "rant".
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