A visit with Fred Rogers

By Kim Shippey Senior Writer

Television Viewers Of All Ages who in February of this year honored the passing of entertainer Fred Rogers will love a little book of his sayings, The World According to Mister Rogers.

"I keep the book with me all the time," said Joanne Rogers, his wife of more than 50 years, in a Sentinel interview. "It's dog-eared and full of paperclips. It's just like a visit with him.

"This is my favorite," said Joanne without a moment's hesitation, reading aloud to me over the phone: "'In the external scheme of things, shining moments are as brief as the twinkling of an eye, yet such twinklings are what eternity is made of—moments when we human beings can say, "I love you," "I'm proud of you," "I forgive you," "I'm grateful for you." That's what eternity is made of: invisible, imperishable, good stuff.' Whenever I read that last sentence," said Joanne, "I can still hear his voice. The 'good stuff is so like him."

Fred loved to talk to Joanne about people—what they were doing, and what they meant to him. "He was so proud of so many people," she said. As she mentions in her foreword to the book, Fred's capacity for understanding always amazed her. "There were many times I wanted to be angry at someone, and Fred would say, 'But I wonder what was going on in that person's day.' That was typical of Fred's kindness toward everyone."

Excerpts from The World According to Mister Rogers by Fred Rogers

A young apprentice applied to a master carpenter for a job. The older man asked him, "Do you know your trade?" "Yes, sir!" the young man replied proudly. "Have you ever made a mistake?" the older man inquired. "No, sir!" the young man answered, feeling certain he would get the job. "Then there's no way I'm going to hire you," said the master carpenter, "because when you make one, you won't know how to fix it."

As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has—or ever will have—something inside that is unique to all time. It's our job to encourage each other to discover that uniqueness and to provide ways of developing its expression.

The more I think about it, the more I wonder if God and neighbor are somehow One. "Loving God, Loving neighbor"—the same thing? For me, coming to recognize that God loves every neighbor is the ultimate appreciation!

You don't ever have to do anything sensational for people to love you. When I say, "It's you I like," I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch ... that deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive: love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.

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Healing without hope? Sure

December 15, 2003

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