The wonder of Mister Rogers’ neighbourhood 

Written by Rev. Dr. Ed Hird, Janice Hird and Alicia Hird

Why has Mister Rogers’ legacy grown so much in impact after his death from stomach cancer in 2003?  Why does Mister Rogers remind people so much of Jesus, especially in COVID times? Perhaps it was because he showed us how to better love our neighbour, “Love is at the root of everything, all learning, all parenting, all relationships.” He believed that the greatest thing that we can do is to help somebody know that they’re loved and capable of loving.

Who will ever forget Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers, wearing the red zippered sweater and navy canvas sneakers in the recent blockbuster film A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood?  Hanks said that it was terrifying to play Fred Rogers, as he is so beloved: “The moment I said ‘yes,’ I began to have the night sweats… Every person I talked to has said, ‘When you spoke to Fred, you felt like you were only person in the world who mattered to him’.” He saw himself as an emotional archeologist who loved to hear people’s stories. As one who always made time for a child, Rogers commented, “Jesus said to the people around him ‘Let the little children come up here.’ I want to learn from them. I want to be involved with these innocent people who make up the Kingdom of heaven.”

Our grandchildren love Daniel Tiger’s Neighbourhood, a cartoon series by Fred Rogers Productions which teaches emotional intelligence, kindness, and human respect. Rogers said, “…I was a very shy kid. I was the Daniel Striped Tiger of that school, I am sure.  Daniel Tiger and Mister Rogers show that even shy people can change their world for better.

As I (Alicia) recently became a parent to a beautiful daughter, I have inevitably come back to part of my childhood that instilled in me qualities that I would like to pass on to my daughter. When watching Mister Rogers Neighbourhood, I have been reminded of what kindness means, how to help others, and also how to be a better friend. In one episode that I put on for my daughter, Mister Rogers gets a call to attend a meeting. When all hope seems lost, there is a knock on the door and it’s a man who is a good friend of his. He ends up teaching the children how important it is to be kind and how to communicate with others.  Mister Rogers is able to relate to children by talking about things we seem to forget about as adults. He models deep listening, creativity, honesty and compassion. 

You may remember when Mister Rogers pushed the button for the train trolley which took the child to the kingdom/neighbourhood of Make-Believe. For Rogers, the Kingdom of God was a neighbourhood to which the childlike are all invited.  Creativity and make believe are certainly pieces of childhood that have helped us during this pandemic. Being able to escape reality alleviates stressors that are in our environment. 

Have we forgotten how to be neighbours in our high-tech, highly private culture? Have we even learned the names of our next-door neighbours?  Rogers dedicated his life to living out the parable of the neighbourly Good Samaritan.  He did not wear his religion on his sleeve, everything he did subtly pointed to the greatest neighbour of all, Jesus Christ.  His very life was his sermon.  

Rogers woke up every morning at 5 am for prayers, bible reading, and quiet time: “Revelation came through silence.” He methodically kept a prayer list to daily lift up hundreds of hurting people.  After breakfast, he gently sang “Jubilate Deo/Rejoice in the Lord” before swimming, an exercise that helped him control his weight and his anger.  Yes, even the gentle Mister Rogers had to prayerfully work on his anger, having discovered that forgiveness dissolves the power of evil.  He memorably commented that often the hardest people to forgive are our friends and those we love.  At the heart of neighbourliness is costly forgiveness.

Neighbourliness is not an option for those who want to share God’s love with our very hurting, isolated world. Rogers’ mother taught him that in the worst of crises, there would always be a helper come along, a good Samaritan, a true neighbour. COVID times is a great time to be that neighbour.  

Part of Rogers’ neighbourliness was birthed in the context of isolation and being relentlessly bullied as a young child. His wealthy parents were so terrified that he might be kidnapped that they had him driven back and forth to school by his chauffeur/bodyguard, even for lunchtime. Rogers commented: “When I got to high school, I was scared to death to go to school.  Every day, I was afraid that I was going to fail.  I resented those kids for not seeing beyond my fatness or my shyness.”

Fortunately, Fred comforted himself by singing and playing the piano: “I was always able to cry or laugh or say I was angry through the tips of my fingers on the piano.” He eventually wrote hundreds of comforting songs for Mister Roger’s Neighbourhood.  One of his most memorable early songs was Good Night God, where he sang “thank you God for letting us love you.”  His Grandpa McFeely redemptively said, “Fred, you made this day a special day, just by being yourself.  Always remember, there’s just one person in this whole world like you – and I like you just the way you are.”

Rogers did not want other children to suffer like he had.  When children’s TV first came out in the early 1950s, he was appalled by the slapstick violence.  Could not this powerful new tool be dedicated to help children become kinder neighbours?  Rogers was so passionate about this project that he delayed going to theological school so that he could be a children’s TV missionary.  Because of his shyness, he was an unlikely but effective evangelist in the spirit of 1 Peter 3:15: “You can’t see my spiritual life unless you ask me about it. You don’t see my family life unless you ask me about it.”He never pushed the gospel down people’s throats but was always ready to gently share the reason for his hope with those who asked.

Rogers initially worked behind the scenes as a producer. Because of his gentleness and respectfulness, doors opened everywhere he knocked. Some people dismissed soft-spoken Fred Rogers as weak, but he showed the relentless strength of Christ for decades. Gavin Edwards commented: “Fred Rogers was the gentlest of men – but he was also a fighter.  His chosen weapons were puppets and scripts and songs, but he battled every day to improve the world he lived in.”

After moving to Canada in 1962 to work for CBC, Rogers became the principal presenter. After his visa ran out, he returned to Philadelphia. The Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood TV show started in 1968, drawing on his years of previous children’s programming. Rogers always was there for those with physical and mental disabilities, sometimes bringing them onto the program.  By 1975, fifteen thousand letters a year were received, all of which were personally read and answered by Fred Rogers. Before each episode of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” Rogers would pray, “Dear God, let some word that is heard be yours.” 

Mister Rogers taught us to slow down, be present in the moment, and treat the small things as worth our full attention.  He made goodness and neighbourliness attractive in our very cynical, nihilistic culture. 

Jesus today is asking each of us, “Would you be mine, could you be mine, please would you be my neighbour?”