Mister Rogers Accepted Others; We Can, Too!
Fred Rogers has been in the news since the flick A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood starring Tom Hanks came out last year. I have not seen the movie, but Mr. Rogers has been a hero of mine since I was a child. I wish that the show still aired on PBS so that my twin boys could watch it. In the midst of all that is happening in the USA right now, his message is perhaps more timely than ever. I will not comment here on the death of George Floyd. I am not in the US, and being far away from the situation, I do not want to weigh in specifically on his death nor the prevalent protests playing out at present.
Before passing away in 2003, Mr. Rogers accepted people for who they were, even when their lifestyles did not always jive with his own. Jesus did that, too, and he also washed people's feet. Rogers followed Jesus' lead in that, not afraid to put his feet in the tub with Francois (Officer) Clemmons, an African American man and one of the first recurring characters of color on a children's TV program. I met Francois at an event in NJ last year, and we chatted about Mr. Roger's healing effect on his life. He said he enjoyed talking with me. It sounded just like something Fred Rogers would have said!!!
Rogers said the following words: “You can't really love someone else unless you really love yourself first. When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.” His words, powerful when spoken, resound even more loudly today. They are well worth putting into practice. Living in harmony with others is a God thing!
Before passing away in 2003, Mr. Rogers accepted people for who they were, even when their lifestyles did not always jive with his own. Jesus did that, too, and he also washed people's feet. Rogers followed Jesus' lead in that, not afraid to put his feet in the tub with Francois (Officer) Clemmons, an African American man and one of the first recurring characters of color on a children's TV program. I met Francois at an event in NJ last year, and we chatted about Mr. Roger's healing effect on his life. He said he enjoyed talking with me. It sounded just like something Fred Rogers would have said!!!
Rogers said the following words: “You can't really love someone else unless you really love yourself first. When we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the façade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.” His words, powerful when spoken, resound even more loudly today. They are well worth putting into practice. Living in harmony with others is a God thing!
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