Fred
Rogers began his work in children’s television programming with the live WQED
Pittsburgh show “The Children’s Corner,” where Josie Carey was the host and
Rogers was puppeteer, composer, and organist.
Rogers attended and graduate from Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, and
was ordained a Presbyterian minister.
His denomination recognized his call to ministry, but understood that
broadly and had the insight to charge him with continuing his work with
children and their families through his television ministry. The Canadian Broadcasting Company invited him
north, where he produced a show called “Misterogers.” “In 1968 it was made available for national
distribution through the National Educational Television (NET) which later
became Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).”[i]
According
to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Tom Hanks will begin filming his new movie,
“You are My Friend,” this fall in the Steel City, where the TV show was
originally produced. The article says, “The
50th anniversary of “Mister Rogers Neighborhood” was in February, sparking
tributes across the globe, as well as films, TV specials, opinion pieces and
online features. Morgan Neville’s
critically acclaimed documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” is currently in
theaters.”[ii] This documentary portrays the mild-mannered,
soft-spoken Fred Rogers as a radical, who promoted racial equality during a
time of inequality, and who addressed tough issues such as death and divorce,
in a way that kids could understand. His
message was simple: “Love is at the root of everything. All learning, all relationships. Love, or the lack of it.” Fred said, “The greatest thing that we can do
is to help somebody know that they are loved and capable of loving.”[iii]
Many
of us grew up either showing Mr. Rogers’ program to our kids, watching it as
kids, or both. His life is a quiet,
gentle reminder of the virtue of being a neighbor. I expect that Reverend Rogers would point to
the Bible, and perhaps to the Book of Proverbs as a book of virtues that
teaches us more about what it means to be a neighbor. Maybe your next door neighbor happens to be
your best friend, but for most people, neighbors are people that they have to
learn to live with, whether they like them or not.
First, Proverbs addresses good relations between
neighbors who are friendly in their acquaintance. You want to maintain good relations, because
there may be a time when you need your neighbor. 27:10[iv]
says, “Do not forsake your friend or a friend of your family, and do not go
to your relative’s house when disaster strikes you—better a neighbor nearby
than a relative far away.” Neighborliness
goes a long way, but Proverbs 25:16-17 reminds us not to overdo it. “If you find honey, eat just enough—too
much of it, and you will vomit. Seldom
set foot in your neighbor’s house—too much of you, and they will hate you.” This reminds me of Benjamin Franklin’s
reminder that houseguests, like fish, stink after three days. Being neighborly is a good thing, but don’t
force your unwanted presence. 27:14 cautions
against too much of a good thing, saying, “If anyone loudly blesses their
neighbor early in the morning, it will be taken as a curse.” Be friendly with your neighbor—but know
the extent to which you’re wanted or not.
Next,
Proverbs also reminds us to be good to our neighbors. 3:27-30 says, “Do not withhold good from
those to whom it is due, when it is in your power to act. Do
not say to your neighbor, ‘Come back tomorrow and I’ll give it to you’—when you
already have it with you. Do not plot harm against your
neighbor, who lives trustfully near you. Do not
accuse anyone for no reason—when they have done you no harm.” In Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood, these things
ought to come as second nature, but unfortunately, they don’t. These are things we need to be taught. Proverbs 14:21 says, “It is a sin to
despise one’s neighbor, but blessed is the one who is kind to the needy.”
Finally,
it ought It also ought to go without saying, that if we’re to be kind to our
neighbors, we should also not be horrible to them. But Proverbs addresses this as well. “A violent person entices their
neighbor and leads them down a path that is not good (16:29).” Proverbs 21:10 says, “The wicked crave
evil; their neighbors get no mercy from them.” 24:18 says, “Like a club or a sword or
a sharp arrow is one who gives false testimony against a neighbor.” Finally, 26:18-19 says, “Like a maniac
shooting flaming arrows of death is one who deceives
their neighbor and says, ‘I was only joking!’” There’s nothing funny about being a bad
neighbor. Sometimes we need a Mr.
Rogers, a Book of Virtues, or a Robert Frost to tell us that.
In
his famous poem, “Mending Wall,” Robert Frost tells of two neighbors who meet
to repair the wall between them. Every
Spring they find that it has been damaged by water or frozen ground-swell, or by
hunters and their dogs. Each year they
walk the line between them, picking up stones that have fallen, and replacing
them. Frost intones, “Something there is
that doesn’t love a wall,” meaning that it seems nature itself conspires to
tear down this artificial boundary that men erect between one another. He wants to tell his neighbor that walls are
for keeping cows in, not people out—and they don’t even have any cows. Frost continues:
Before
I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I
was walling in or walling out,
And to
whom I was like to give offence.
Something
there is that doesn't love a wall,
That
wants it down." I could say "Elves" to him,
But
it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He
said it for himself. I see him there
Bringing
a stone grasped firmly by the top
In
each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He
moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of
woods only and the shade of trees.
He
will not go behind his father's saying,
And he
likes having thought of it so well
He
says again, "Good fences make good neighbours."
But
Frost’s point is that they don’t. What
makes good neighbors isn’t keeping up walls and holding each other at arm’s
length. What makes good neighbors is
love. Galatians 5:14 says, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping
this one command: Love your neighbor as yourself.’” This goes for the people who live near
us, the people who live across our borders, and the people who are hardest to
love. When we can learn to love our
neighbor as ourselves, we will look even at the least savory and say, “Would
you be mine, could you be mine? Won’t
you be my neighbor?”
[i] Mister
Rogers' Neighborhood: A History. https://www.fredrogers.org/fred-rogers/bio/index-test.php. August 27, 2018.
[ii]
Scuillo, Maria. “Tom Hanks-as-Fred
Rogers film, 'You Are My Friend,' begins shooting in Pittsburgh this fall.” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. August 27, 2018. http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/movies/2018/07/06/Tom-Hanks-Fred-Rogers-film-to-be-shot-in-Pittsburgh-this-fall/stories/201807050089. August 27, 2018.
[iii]WON'T
YOU BE MY NEIGHBOR? - Official Trailer [HD] - In Select Theaters June 8. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FhwktRDG_aQ. August 27, 2018.
[iv]
Scripture quotations are taken from the NIV.
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