Inspiration from Mr.
Rogers Fred Rogers,
Better known as Mr.
Rogers,
Was a Presbyterian minister and he probably had the greatest television ministry of all time.
His show,
Mr.
Rogers' Neighborhood,
Was not religious per se in that he wasn't trying to bring his audience to the Lord or to teach them verses from a holy text.
Rogers did,
However,
Talk about virtues and how to treat people and how to love ourselves as individuals that are special.
I can't imagine more spiritual teachings to convey,
Nor can I imagine a better audience to serve.
Children.
I've always loved the idea that if you want to know someone's religion,
Don't look to what they say they believe but look at how they live their life.
I love how the author and Unitarian minister Robert Fulghum put it,
The older I get,
The less attention I pay to what people say or think or hope.
I notice what they do,
How they live,
And what they work for.
There is an unresolved argument in the arts and in politics over whether one's words are to be judged in regard to one's life.
I come down on the side of integrity.
The life validates or invalidates the words.
Oratory is empty if it has not been field tested on the battlefield of experience,
And I have little use for those who write beautifully and live sordidly,
Or those who withdraw from the world and issue instructions for how to live in it,
Or priesthoods that deny the realities of the flesh but wish to control the appetites and activities of those who live as whole human beings.
If you don't play the game,
You can't know enough to make the rules.
If you are not engaged in the sweaty work of the world,
You should not be in charge of the deodorant concession.
And if you cannot find a way to aid progress in human affairs,
Then know that the smirking cynicism of the sideline critic is a form of plague,
And to be one of those is to be a carrier of death instead of a preserver of life.
Fred Rogers,
From all I know and studied about him,
Was a man of great integrity,
Who worked diligently to make his difference in the world.
He always spoke to children,
But any adult watching could see that he didn't shy away from social issues,
From war to gender roles,
And would make his mark beyond his show as an advocate for public television and good parenting.
His mission was simple,
To tell people how special they are.
One day a fundamentalist was arguing with a layman on the street,
And he catched Rogers and pleaded with him to explain to this man why he needed to be saved.
Tell this man there is only one way to God,
That no one comes to the Father except through Jesus.
Rogers took a deep breath,
Looked at the man being prostilized at,
And said,
God loves you just the way you are.
When Rogers was a kid,
Some bullies used to call him Fat Freddy.
They'd chase him home from school and call him names.
Hey Fat Freddy,
Watch out Fat Freddy,
We're going to get you.
And young Fred was heartbroken.
He would remember as grandfather would say to him after spending a day together,
You made this day special for me.
Adults would tell him to forget about the bullying,
Pretend you don't care,
And so on.
But whenever Freddy was alone he mourned and cried.
One day he came upon a line in the book The Little Prince that changed his life and got his ministry underway.
The quote,
What is essential is invisible to the eyes.
This understanding led him to believe that within everyone is someone lovable,
Is someone deserving of love,
And is someone God loves.
That God does not reject but God is the great acceptor of all.
And the young man realized that's what he wanted to do with his life.
To let people know they're special.
So he became Mr.
Rogers.
It's not only superheroes who have origin stories.
We do too.
Especially those of us who dedicate our lives to service in some way.
We often have an origin story that isn't pretty.
We weren't bitten by a radioactive spider or learned that our ancestry leads to another planet.
But we were often abused,
Bullied,
Dehumanized,
Or put down.
It was our survival and deeper realization of who we were and can be that helped us dedicate ourselves to helping others learn those deep truths.
Can you recall your origin story?
That negative experience or that encouragement from a teacher?
Or that sudden realization of what you were to do?
In a way,
Life really begins,
Not in self-discovery,
But in truly dedicating ourselves to a cause greater than ourselves.
Our life truly begins when we realize who we are to serve.
This is when we truly begin to let go of our appearance and start living fully from our values.
Or,
As Mr.
Rogers put it,
The greatest loss that we all have to deal with is the loss of the image of ourselves as a perfect person.
But what a wonderful thing to lose.
To let go of trying to live up to a false self-image based upon not believing we're special to embracing that we are at our core a precious and special being and live like it.
Live like it by caring for ourselves and especially live like it in helping others.
Rogers shares,
When I graduated from college,
I had little notion of how I'd ever be able to put together all the interests that I had.
It took a good deal of time,
And my parents probably wondered if I'd ever be able to make anything of myself.
But I'll never forget the sense of wholeness I felt when I finally realized,
After a lot of help from a lot of people,
What in fact I really was.
I was not just a songwriter or a language buff or a student of human development or a telecommunicator,
But someone who could use every talent that had been ever given to me in the service of children and their families.
I can tell you that it was that particular focus that made all the difference for me.
I can also tell you that the directions weren't written on the back of my college diploma.
They came ever so slowly for me and ever so firmly.
I trusted that they would emerge.
All I can say is,
It's worth the struggle to discover who you really are and how you in your own way can put life together as something that means a lot to you.
It's a miracle when you finally discover whom you're best equipped to serve,
And we're all equipped to serve in some way.
Rogers had a simple philosophy.
You are special and a clear focus on whom to serve,
Children and their families.
What about for you?
For me,
I'd like to think my message is clear.
Life is sacred and whom I serve is clear.
Anyone who will listen,
But I'm probably not as clear as Mr.
Rogers.
But what I would invite you to do is to look at your life,
How you're living it,
And whom you serve.
Your purpose and whom you serve may be clearer than you think.
In 1997,
Rogers receiving a lifetime achievement award from the Emmys,
Shared the following speech.
Thank you,
Thank you.
Oh,
It's a beautiful night in this neighborhood.
So many people have helped me come to this night.
Some of you are here.
Some are far away.
Some are even in heaven.
All of us have special ones who have loved us into being.
Would you just take,
Along with me,
Ten seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are?
Those who have cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life?
Ten seconds of silence.
I'll watch the time.
Whomever you've been thinking about,
How pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they've made.
You know they're the kind of people television does well to offer our world.
Special thanks to my family and friends,
And to my co-workers in public broadcasting,
Family communications,
And this academy for encouraging me,
Allowing me all these years to be your neighbor.
May God be with you.
Thank you very much.
Hmm,
That's our origin story,
Isn't it?
Remembering those who loved us into being who we are.
And this was Rogers' power.
The ability to connect with both the child and deep wisdom within each of us.
To help us reach in ourselves and leave us,
Child or washed up adult,
To live with the clarity,
That innocence,
And from that most essential part of who we are,
That is invisible to the eye.
