Mr. Rogers: Best Neighbor Ever
If you’re like me — coming up a bit short on faith in your neighbors, and feeling not a little sickened of the seeming trend towards rampant self-righteousness, ignorant belligerence, and all-around bellicose 
nastiness — then you owe it to yourself to take your eyes off the TV pundits for a few minutes and recalibrate your faith by tuning in to a gentleman who actually lived what he said he believed.
In other words, you owe it to yourself to check out 15 reasons Mr. Rogers was best neighbor ever.
If that warmed your heart, but didn’t quite part the clouds and let the sunshine in, check out this archival footage from 1969 in which Mr. Rogers goes to Washington, yep, and this mild-mannered wimp takes less just about six minutes to ignite an apathetic senate, crush Nixon’s funding cuts, and secure enthusiastic support to the tune of $20 million: Mister Rogers defending PBS to the US Senate.
And finally, how about sitting back and listening to the man ramble like one of your own favorite, eccentric uncles: Fred Rogers - Archive Interview.
People who live the values they propose seem rare these days. But knowing that Mr. Rogers did, and remembering when he was here, helps me believe there must still be many good neighbors out there. Hats off to you, Mr. Rogers, and a life lived well.
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A lot of people laughed at me when I told them I enjoyed sitting with my kids and watching his show. I loved his quiet and soothing manner, and how he grabbed the kids attention.
He proved that you don’t have to be rude and obnoxious to get your point across.
Great to have you back Joe.
I enjoyed spending time in Rogers’ neighborhood, too, Pelmo. Very calming for the soul, for the kid, adult, and human in everybody ;-)
Yeah, what an amazing man he was.
I never paid all that much attention to him until one hot summer day in college I was smoking in the basement with the janitor and he said he was about to end his workday and couldn’t wait to go home, kick his feet up, crack open a cold beer…and watch Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. That shorted me smooth out. WTF? But, being the sort of open-minded liberaI sort I strove to be, I had to try it for myself. I gave it a shot and fast became a devoted fan.
It was an amazing epiphany for me. Never would’ve guessed it, but wonders never cease and I wish I could say the same for Fred Rogers. I miss him.
I guess I need to watch a few of his shows. I remember my sister telling me he was great, and I guess I caught a moment or two…but didn’t realize it would be good for adults, too.