The renowned TV personality Fred McFeely Rogers (yes, minor spoiler alert, “McFeely” was his real middle name!) was the host of the enduring PBS series Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood from 1968 to 2001. (Mr Rogers died on 27 February 2003. Below is a commencement speech he gave at Dartmouth in the spring of 2002.) A 90-minute documentary about Mr Rogers, aptly titled “Won’t you be my neighbor?,” is now in wide release, and it discloses many surprising facts and special secrets about Mr Rogers’ life and his long-standing TV career. On a personal note, however, I must confess that I was rarely ever able to watch an entire episode of his show, even as a child! The Land of Make-Believe never resonated with me. Of course, I loved the theme song, and I never tired of Mr Rogers’ trademark ritual at the beginning of each episode, where he would remove his perfectly-tailored sports coat, carefully hang it up in his closet (in the living room!), and slip into a comfy, brightly-colored sweater. Perhaps this simple ritual fascinated me because it was so foreign to my own Cuban-Californian family life. But I digress. My wife Sydjia and I loved the documentary. We were left with the impression that we need a Mr Rogers now more than ever! Go see it for yourself …
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LOL.. Those of us from the North think it’s odd to NOT have a closet by the front door. Up north it’s a coat closet. (You walk in from out of the cold and hang up your coat.) Still read your blog and miss UCF.
That makes total sense! Except for three years in New Haven, I have always lived in the tropical climates (P.R., Florida, and SoCal). Come back and visit us soon!
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I cried most of the way through, and I only watched it a little bit with my children. The reason adults cry is because, how can you not be moved by the kindness and love that drove this man and singularly occupied his mind, and that we only aspire to on occasion.
I too found the documentary to be very moving!
I agree that the “let’s have an opera in the Kingdom” times started to wear thin. The documentary cherry-picked the highlights, one must admit.
Indeed, but I still agree that the documentary left me feeling very nostalgic for a bygone ethic.