Happy Birthday, Mr. Rogers!

The older I get the less inclined I am to make fun of Fred Rogers and the more I realize how much respect and admiration he deserves.

I think  "Mr. Rogers- he wasn't just the soft-spoken host of a children's TV host who wore a red sweater and played with puppets, but he truly was an educator and minister- and to some degree a child psychologist (even if he never formally earned the latter degree.) What an influential- yet ever humble and gentle- man he was!"  

Since today is his birthday, this post is dedicated to Mr. Rogers and anyone who emulates the attributes he mentions in the following quotes of wisdom he's shared during his life:

"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility.  It's easy to say, 'It's not my child, not my community, not my problem.'  Then there are those who see the need and respond.  

I consider those people my heroes."

"Love doesn't mean a state of perfect caring.  To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now- and to go on caring through joyful times and through times that may bring us pain."

"When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers, You will always find people who are helping.'

To this day, especially in times of 'disaster', I remember my mother's words and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers- so many caring people in the world."

Here's to all the helpers, those who love when it's not easy, and to anyone who sees a need and responds.  (I think many foster parents and child welfare workers, among others, definitely meet that criteria).

  "If you look for the helpers, you'll know that there's hope." -Fred Rogers

I also readily admit that we have a few wee ones in our home who watch Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood on a regular basis so I'm glad that Mr. Rogers influence can live on in their lives.