Article by John Gugel published in  Muskego Sun "Life in the 'Burbs"

His house was the safest one in the neighborhood, a tranquil harbor, an oasis of calm. What Fred Rogers taught was straight forward, and the lesson was always the same. You have value. You are important. You are beautiful inside. There is no one else like you. I like you just the way you are. He never talked down to children and he never spoke over their heads. He taught weighty values and important lessons in life to millions.

Rogers was someone who was totally at peace with himself. He was gentle and kind in a dog-eat-dog world, soft-spoken in a universe of noise. He was thoughtful and considerate and modeled those qualities to his vast TV audience. Although his audience numbered in the millions, each child watching felt that Mr. Rogers was talking directly to them. He was in the business of building people up. He emphasized the importance of taking time to be present with people. Rogers treasured times of solitude because that was when revelation and insight occurred.

He was at core a decent man and it was reflected in his show. How we can use a dose of that with “Elimidate” and “Who’s Hot?” on the tube these days.

He had his detractors. One macho father forbade his son to watch Rogers on television because he did not want his child to grow up being a sissy. And Eddie Murphy honed his considerable comedic talents on a hilarious take-off of Rogers neighborhood, relocating it to the ghetto.

Rogers was a devoutly religious person. I think we always guessed it, but it seemed that he went out of his way not to express his religious views on his show. My guess is that he kept this part of his personhood private because he did not want it to get in the way of his essential message of the inner beauty and innate goodness of every person. 

Who were his teachers? Children, of course. He said it and he meant it, he once gave a unique interpretation of the famous story in the New Testament where the disciples of Jesus attempt to shoo children away because they perceive that they were bothering Jesus. Jesus tells his disciples to let them come up front by him--and here is where Rogers’ spin on the story comes in. Jesus wants them in front because he wants to learn from them, Rogers claims. “They have a lot to teach us all about the Kingdom of Heaven,” Rogers asserted.

Because of the editorial schedule of this newspaper, two weeks will have lapsed between the time of Rogers’ death and the publication of this column. A lot will have happened in the intervening time and this column will seem dreadfully out of date. I can only speculate on what will happen between now (as I put fingers to keyboard) and then (you reading this). So much can happen in a short time period like two weeks in this world of rapidly changing events. 

Perhaps that is the problem. Events rush by and we are swept along in their undertow. We are always in a hurry. We do not take time to reflect. We fail to stop and appreciate the beauty that is all around us - in this magnificent universe and in the spectacular human beings with whom we share this planet. Let Fred Rogers be our teacher. Won’t you be his neighbor?