1) is he a fag?
2) is he a child molester?
He is neither. So is the cynicism of 2018 rearing its ugly head. And addressed in the new documentary that is a lot of fluff, but gentle fluff that embodies what his show meant.
I recall watching his show as a child on PBS when I was home sick from school. He was something of a child in an adult's body which had parts of simple minded wonder and clear kindness. In today's world, this approach is often met with suspicion, which media has instilled in us to question how someone could be this wholesome. The truth? He wasn't and he was. As a message to the world and the last dying light of goodness, Mr. Rogers was that neighbor whom you wanted to garden with or identify butterflies or birds with. In no way would you want to party with. Essentially, he is an alien. An alien in a country that was desperate to understand cruelty and anger from a child's perspective. A lot of his approach was a simple one. The silent moments of reflection borderline zen techniques of non-judgemental fairness to human beings. The message is good, the receiver has yet to come to full grips of life. And in the waning moments of his life, he bore witness to ugliness of terrorism at the acts of 9/11. There wasn't any hate in his heart, but you see a man who was crushed by over 1000+ episodes of his show never reaching the Muslim community. That's understandable. Because they were never spoon fed the concept that people will love them for just being them. They wanted something from the world of understanding. The terrorist found it in the religion and used it for evil. While the doc doesn't paint this to be what ultimately bent Mr. Rogers' spirit, you can tell his spirituality bent because he believed that all humans are inherently good.
To be honest, I still believe they are. As I've repeatedly said, at the ground level we see eye to eye. Very rarely do you see the outburst of these heinous terrorist acts. Instead, they are seen as a moment of anger and fear and...lack of understanding. To Mr. Rogers it was incomprehensible someone would lack this much hate for themselves or others.
I would say, in this era of Trump, many people use this as a salve for the anger that they believe is encouraged by the ugliness of a crass human being. That has some truth to it. But the same could be said about Obama's term as well. If we are talking about embolden times. The fact that myself, when I see police officers I practically dare them to give me any shit.
But the core message is that kindness goes a long way, and it shouldn't be seen as weakness. Too many people in our business now are sharks. Unhappy, bitter people who lash out. This obviously creates more resentment and anger and ugliness. I've shown as much kindness as I can muster. I can't get rid of the sickness I feel sometimes for people who lack manners. A "thank you" or "please" is not much. To some, it might as well be jumping the Grand Canyon. How would Fred Rogers conquer those people? The answer, he doesn't seem to surround himself with the people who never appreciated him. The other factor, perhaps his silent value of himself needed no one to reciprocate. In the end, you reach a deep silent appreciation and love for someone who seemed to embody the second coming of Christ. Love unconditionally. If he ever put a smile to your face, you owe it to the world to watch this documentary. The only problem...the people who really need it are too cool to associate themselves with it.
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