Mister Rogers has left our neighborhood. I haven’t thought about Fred Rogers in years, but now that he’s dead I feel as though one of my friends is gone.
His gentle voice, slow pacing, and dorky cardigan begged for parody. I liked Eddy Murphy’s–Rogers liked it too.
I loved the way he treated us all with respect. I loved his complete lack of irony. I was moved by this heartfelt, person-by-person eulogy written by my cynical pals at Plastic. It reminded me how many good neighbors we have online.
The AP eulogy has a quote I want to share:
During the Persian Gulf War, Rogers told youngsters that “all children shall be well taken care of in this neighborhood and beyond — in times of war and in times of peace,” and he asked parents to promise their children they would always be safe.
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility,” he said in 1994. “It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’
“Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
Dear neighbor, if you read this far, you must be missing Mister Rogers too. I’m finding some comfort in what he used to say:
“You always make each day a special day for me. You know how? By just you being you. I like you just the way you are. Bye, neighbor.”