As kid, I wasn’t particularly into Mr. Rogers. Maybe I was, it just was so long ago, I don’t remember. I do recall loving the cartoon Underdog. Humble shoe-shiner with a girlfriend named Polly. Although, I read something this morning said by Mr. Roger’s that really is profound and meaningful. It is about the people we come into contact with and the importance of relationships.
In college, after the football crowd has gone home, the pizza box is empty, the posters come down off of the dorm wall, and the term papers have been written, what remains are the relationships you had with others. I think back to my college years and what I remember are the friends I made, the laughs were shared, the troubles we endured, and those talks at 4:00 in the morning about life. That is what college was. I am in the process of finishing my books about the college transition called “On the Edge: Transitioning to College Imaginatively.” It has made me reflect on what college should be about.
Here is what Mr. Rogers said (thanks to my buddy Scott Brenner for posting this on Facebook)
“You rarely have time for everything you want in this life, so you need to make choices. And hopefully your choices can come from a deep sense of who you are… When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed… If you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person… I hope you’re proud of yourself for the times you’ve said ‘yes,’ when all it meant was extra work for you and was seemingly helpful only to someone else.” – Fred Rogers, American educator, Presbyterian minister, songwriter, and television host (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003)