Images from this video can be found on the Mister Rogers Photo Gallery on PBS.org: http://www.pbs.org/misterrogers/photos/
Like many children, I cherished my trips to Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood and grew up feeling loved, cared for, and understood by the show’s soft-spoken host, a man known by millions around the world only as Mr. Rogers.
A humble Presbyterian minister, Fred Rogers believed that children deserved more from television and cared enough to do what no one was willing to do on camera at the time. With every life encounter and episode of his show, Fred Rogers spoke directly to the hearts of children by focusing on the intrinsic value of every child.
He was intentional, caring, honest, and deeply in touch with his own feelings. And though he dedicated his life to caring for the youngest amongst us, his message of kindness extended far beyond his target audience.
To this day, Mr. Rogers ministers to the child in all of us by speaking to the feelings we all have and our eternal desire to be loved and accepted just as we are.
In the words of John Maxwell, “a leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” When it comes to kindness, gentleness, and living with purpose, if anyone led by example, it was Mr. Rogers.
But how did he do it?
This is the question explored in Marielle Heller’s newest feature, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, starring Tom Hanks as everyone’s favorite neighbor. While Mr. Rogers certainly didn’t have a monopoly on kindness, he was remarkably effective at it, and connected with audiences in a very unique way.
So what can we learn from his example, both on and off the screen?
People have often wondered who Fred Rogers was when he wasn’t Mr. Rogers. Those who knew him have told us. The same love and kindness we saw in Mr. Rogers’s television neighborhood, Fred Rogers modeled in his life. He wasn’t playing a character. He wasn’t putting on a show just for the cameras.
He was authentically and consistently himself both on screen and off. To a child, that kind of love and kindness cannot be faked.
From the way he opened each episode to the songs he wrote and sang on the show, every word was intentional and every action purposeful. Everything was designed to make children feel safe, valued, cared for, and invited.
Mr. Rogers said in a 1969 congressional hearing that, “one of the first things a child learns in a healthy family is trust.” Children knew what to expect from Mr. Rogers and trusted him because he was consistent with his words, his tone, and his interactions with others. In any relationship, consistency in character creates trust, and when we trust someone, we’re more inclined to listen to what they are saying and believe it.
Read the article in full here.
Photo credit: WikimediaCommons.com / David Pinkerton's Follow Neighborhood Trolley Shot taken during the "Neighborhood of Make-Believe Tour" at WQED studios in Pittsburgh. Photo originally posted to Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/davidpinkerton/4084432764/in/photolist-7dVMyy-7dRYsZ
