mr rogers neighborhood

Two stories, the second unapologetically piggish.



On February 19, 1968 was the first US national broadcast of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood.  Prior to 1968, the program bounced from being a locally produced in Pittsburgh, to the CBC in Toronto, then to NBC and back to Pittsburgh where NET the forerunner of PBS and later PBS broadcast 895 episodes of the show until August 2001.

I admit to despising Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, but as Joni Mitchell wrote "you don't know what you've got 'till its gone".  As my children grew older and the quality of children's programming plummeted I came to realize what others already knew, Fred Rogers was a gem, and genuinely decent human being, whose life ministry was caring for and about children.   

 These are some of my favorite Fred Rogers quotes:

“The thing I remember best about successful people I've met all through the years is their obvious delight in what they're doing and it seems to have very little to do with worldly success. They just love what they're doing, and they love it in front of others.” 

“When we treat children's play as seriously as it deserves, we are helping them feel the joy that's to be found in the creative spirit. It's the things we play with and the people who help us play that make a great difference in our lives.” 

"When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me."

"Forgiveness is a strange thing. It can sometimes be easier to forgive our enemies than our friends. It can be hardest of all to forgive people we love. Like all of life's important coping skills, the ability to forgive and the capacity to let go of resentments most likely take root very early in our lives."

"Most of us, I believe, admire strength. It's something we tend to respect in others, desire for ourselves, and wish for our children. Sometimes, though, I wonder if we confuse strength and other words--like aggression and even violence. Real strength is neither male nor female; but is, quite simply, one of the finest characteristics that any human being can possess."

"Solitude is different from loneliness, and it doesn't have to be a lonely kind of thing."

"Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now."

2.  Pig Alert

1.  Monday, Mayberry was covered with snow, the kind that melts a bit during the day and refreezes hard at night.  Tuesday the gods smiled granting sunny skies and temps in the low 60's ( 18C) which melted the snow.  To savor the day the dogs and I went out for lunch.  Returning home, a motorcycle passed us piloted by a young (aren't they all?) woman dressed only in shorts and a tee shirt.  It's been 5 months since a woman appeared on the public byways of Mayberry so attired, she had to have been freezing, but even had she been Alice the Goon I would have been smitten.  She was my first robin of spring.  Hope floats eternal.

Toad