Lessons from Fred

I keep a cardigan sweater in my office at work and usually carry one when I travel. There are two from among my collection of a dozen or more that seem to find their way to this duty. One is grey and one is green, if you want to know.

 Upon arrival in my office this morning, before I started planning training for our new admin person, before I checked e-mail or even sat down, I changed from the coat I wore on the bus to the sweater that I retrieved from the padded hanger a friend’s wife knitted for me years ago.

 As you may have surmised, I find myself thinking of Fred Rogers just now, hence this missive.

 I didn’t watch him that many times although our daughters liked his show.  But whenever I did watch him, I felt a sort of kinship to him. I didn’t watch the whole show more than once or twice during our daughters’ career as children, but I watched the opening bit maybe a hundred times. I loved it.

 I loved that in changing to his cardigan and pulling on his slippers, he was metaphorically leaving the outside outside, settling into his own comfortable world, and tacitly recognizing the difference. It took a long time for me to start emulating him but now I’ve been doing so for years. It’s part of my morning routine.

In a couple hours, once the office has come up to temperature for the day, I’ll remove and rehang the sweater in preparation for tomorrow. And every now and again, I think of Fred Rogers while I do so.

 Where are the new Fred Rogers’? I hope they’re out there. Mr. Green Jeans, Wanda Wanda, Captain Puget, etc. were all good entertainers and even role models. I’m sure you had similar kid show hosts where you grew up.  They entertained the millions of us who grew up with TV after school and even taught us something about being polite, making friends, paying fair. They all did that.

 But Fred was special. No matter how many millions tuned in, he was there just for the one kid on the other side of the magic glass. He invited that kid into his home and it was a place of welcome and safety and shared discovery.

 Fred was cool.