As you have no doubt heard by now, Fred Rogers, known to all as “Mister Rogers” from his 32-year-long show on PBS, Mister Rogers Neighborhood, passed away early Thursday morning. He died in his home from a battle with stomach cancer.
What you may not know is that I had an opportunity to meet him two years ago, in March 2001, when I went to Florida to visit Amanda for the first time. It was an unexpected pleasure on the trip to meet him. He was speaking at the church at Amanda’s school, Rollins, where Fred Rogers graduated in 1951. He was an ordained Presbyterian minister, and delivered the sermon on March 25, 2001 at Rollin’s Knowles Memorial Chapel.
Let me say that it was a hard thing for me to attend a church service. I’m not a big fan of religious experiences, Jewish or not. For me to go to Synagogue is one thing, but for me to go to a church, that’s a completely foreign idea to me.
So, Amanda convinced me to go. It was an opportunity to see, in real life, a man who shaped my life, and so many others, at such a vital time in my development into a thinking, caring adult. I think we’ve all reflected back at least once on what we learned from Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
It was the first time I’d ever been in a church and heard a sermon. Let me tell you, I was actually moved by it. The only other time I can honestly say I was moved just by someone speaking was September, 2001, when President Bush delivered an address from the US Capitol about the 9/11 attacks, and recognized the people who died. Those were poignant moments.
After the sermon was over, and the service ended, Fred Rogers went outside of the church, and people were thanking him and shaking his hand. I built up all my courage, and approached him. I shook his hand, and told him about how that was my first time attending a church service and hearing a sermon (being a Jew and all…), and how it was truly a moving experience. He was appreciative, and thanked me for coming, and asked me if I remembered watching him as a child. I told him did, and that occasionally I’ll flip onto PBS at home, and watch the show again. He seemed quite pleased, and after exchanging another pleasant word or two with him, we parted ways, and I tried to find Amanda, whom I’d lost track of after the service.
Fred Rogers was a great man, who made his life’s work something that benefited millions of people around the world. He taught us humility, love, and respect for others. Heaven’s got another angel up there, now.
