As we share our collective grief around the tragic events of the past week, it’s especially poignant the location of one of these tragedies took place in the real-life neighborhood of everyone’s favorite TV neighbor, Fred Rogers.
Through his gentle demeanor and the simple life lessons he imparted to his viewers (not just children by the way), Mr. Rogers taught generations of kids that the world was full of hope, love and goodness. To him, each child was special.
But what was also remarkable about Mr. Rogers is that he didn’t just focus on the positive. He also acknowledged this same world wasn’t always a safe, nurturing place. Sometimes things could be scary.
And that’s where his life lessons really took hold. He told us it was okay to be unsure about things. Life wasn’t always easy. But he let us know we could believe in ourselves, and as you watched you knew he believed in you too.
What he also taught us was the importance of community. That if we all worked together and did our part in society to make a difference, together we could truly make change happen.
As we all work through the emotions of the last week, let us always remember the example of Mr. Rogers. We can all help each other get through these hard times together.