Sometimes I hear it in my dreams, the ding-ding of the trolley on it’s way to lands untold. And as I rejoin the waking world I fondly remember King Friday XIII with his stately white beard and the shy Striped Tiger named Daniel and of course the owl X and the Lady Fairchilde. As a twenty-four year old I’ve grown beyond them (I tell myself firmly) but nonetheless I miss them, and yes I think some small part of me still loves them, but that part still wears superman underroos to bed in my mind.
Most importantly of all I miss my neighbor, the man in the cardigan with the house slippers. He demonstrated to me what it meant to be honorable and vulnerable and honest and caring, he taught me to give my family and friends the benefit of the doubt when they were angry and he let me know they were special too. Since 1968 he has touched all of us, he has been a neighbor to us all at one point or another, always gentle, never crass or rude or inconsiderate, and in everything consistent. And when the sweater was put aside and the cameras were turned off at the end of the day, he pioneered for us then too. With credentials, awards and acknowledgements longer than your arm he spent his life in the service of children, his life has been an example of what it takes so many of us a lifetime to learn, that children are our strength.
Upon looking at who he was we are struck by the fact that we were loved by him, he didn’t know us, he had never met us before, and yet… the way he carried himself we all knew. He never had to parade around in a purple dinosaur outfit, or spend thousands on special effects, or even have a studio audience to feel validated. He brought us into his home, into his life, he introduced us to his closest friends, and he allowed us to walk into the land of make believe to discover for ourselves how to forgive and be forgiven in return. I realize as an adult this is a lot to say about one man, it seems unbelievable in our day and age where celebrities appear and then just as abruptly get caught doing something they shouldn’t, and then ten years later are having a “come-back” (the “Surreal Life” anyone?). In a world where atrocities foreign and domestic are all to common (and to some of us very personal), and where new scandals are around every corner, one gentleman has stood and demonstrated that he would not be swayed.
To me personally Mr. Rogers was an example in every respect, there are few people like him today who really try to do what is right. I know there are many who scoff at him and who he was, some say he was outdated, overly sensitive or didn’t have his mind in the real world where you have to look out for your own, but just for a moment I consider, what if he was right? I ponder this sometimes, how hard is it to really imitate such a life, and then to look back on it and be happy with how you spent it? Maybe it’s idealistic to think this way, maybe it is stupid, but then again look how much can happen with one little red trolley and a guy in a cardigan.
And yes sometimes I still hear that trolley in my dreams…
“But it’s you I like–
Every part of you,
Your skin, your eyes, your feelings
Whether old or new.
I hope that you’ll remember
Even when you’re feeling blue
That it’s you I like,
It’s you yourself, ”
Fred McFeely Rogers
1928-2003