Mr. Rogers

Mr. Rogers

You may have noticed that yesterday PBS released an auto-tuned video of children's television great Mr. Rogers, imparting some of his wisdom. It would have been hard to miss as it has definitely gone viral on all of the social media sites. While I'm not a big fan of auto-tune, I really enjoyed the video.

Mr. Rogers Remixed "Garden of Your Mind"

"Did you ever grow anything in the garden of your mind?
You can grow ideas in the garden of your mind.
It's good to be curious about many things.
You can think about things and make believe.
All you have to do is think -
And they'll grow." ~ Mr. Rogers

I also found this video of Fred Rogers defending Public Broadcasting in a US Senate hearing in 1969. He managed to turn a judge from annoyed to enthralled with his soft spoken advocacy for kids:

"What do you do with the mad that you feel?"

After watching the videos I looked up some quotes from both Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and Fred Rogers himself. Some of my favorites follow.

"You make each day a special day. You know how? By just your being you. There's only one person in this whole world like you. And people can like you exactly as you are." ~ Fred Rogers

"You know, growing means when you're a baby and you're angry, all you can do is scream and kick. That's all. But when you get a little older, you can say that you're angry. You can stomp around and make up a dance, or pound some clay and make things out of clay, and sing a song or write a poem. That's what it means to grow. I'm proud of the way you're growing and changing." ~ Fred Rogers

King Friday XIII: "I feel like reciting the royal version of Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star."
Lady Aberlin: "Oh, please do if you will, Uncle."
King Friday XIII: "Certainly, yes. Scintillate, Scintillate diminutive stellar orb. How inexplicable to me seems this stupendous problem of your existence. Elevated at such at an immeasurable distance, in an apparently perpendicular direction from this terrestrial planet which we occupy. Resembling in thy dazzling and unapproachable effulgence, a gem of purist carbon, set solitaire in a university of space."

~ Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

"You know, I was just thinking. Every person, whether little or big, is a human being. And because we are human there are many things that are alike about all of us. For instance, we all need to be loved. Everybody does. Every person that you see in this world needs to be loved. And the marvellous thing about being human is that while we're very much alike, each one of us is very different too. Isn't it great that we can care about one another the way we do?" ~ Fred Rogers

King Friday XIII: "I am about to make an announcement."

Mayor Maggie: "Can we help you, King Friday?"
King Friday XIII: "Of course."
Mayor Maggie: "What can we do?"
King Friday XIII: "You can listen."

~ Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

"So friends are friends. We thought a lot about friends, haven't we? And we've thought a lot about food. Especially food for the body. And that's a very important kind of food, because when a person is very, very hungry, he or she can't think of any other kinds of food. But there are other kinds. Music, for instance, is food for the hearing. And paintings and beautiful scenes are food for the seeing. And books are food for the soul. And loving other people is food for the spirit." ~ Fred Rogers

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." ~ Fred Rogers

"There’s so much more to everyone you will ever meet than will ever meet your eye." ~ Fred Rogers

"Little by little we human beings are confronted with situations that give us more and more clues that we aren’t perfect." ~ Fred Rogers

"If only you could sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person." ~ Fred Rogers

"There is a universal truth that I have found in my work. Everybody longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is let somebody know that they are loved and capable of loving." ~ Fred Rogers

"We've forgotten what it's like not to be able to reach the light switch. We've forgotten a lot of the monsters that seemed to live in our room at night. Nevertheless, those memories are still there, somewhere inside us, and can sometimes be brought to the surface by events, sights, sounds, or smells. Children, though, can never have grown-up feelings until they've been allowed to do the growing." ~ Fred Rogers

"Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else." ~ Fred Rogers

"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." ~ Fred Rogers

"There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don’t seem to help." ~ Fred Rogers

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’ To this day, especially in times of “disaster,” I remember my mother’s words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers — so many caring people in this world." ~ Fred Rogers

"Transitions are almost always signs of growth, but they can bring feelings of loss. To get somewhere new, we may have to leave somewhere else behind." ~ Fred Rogers

Lady Elaine Fairchilde: "Where are you, Handy? I called you seconds ago!" ~ Mr. Rogers Neighborhood

"Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person. There have been so many stories about the lack of courtesy, the impatience of today’s world, road rage and even restaurant rage. Sometimes, all it takes is one kind word to nourish another person. Think of the ripple effect that can be created when we nourish someone. One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many." ~ Fred Rogers

"Beside my chair is a saying in French. It inspires me every day. It’s a sentence from Saint-Exupery‘s The Little Prince,and it reads, ” L’essential est invisible pour les yeux.” (What is essential is invisible to your eyes.) The closer we get to know the truth of that sentence, the closer I feel we get to wisdom.

That which has real value in life in any millennium is very simple. Very deep and very simple! It happens inside of us-in the “essential invisible” part of us, and that is what allows everyone to be a potential neighbor." ~ Fred Rogers

"I’m proud of you for the times you came in second, or third, or fourth, but what you did was the best you had ever done." ~ Fred Rogers

"The child is in me still… and sometimes not so still." ~ Fred Rogers