Life in our neighborhood was made poorer today when Fred Rogers, televison's "Mister Rogers," died from stomach cancer. Rogers' passing saddens me and tonight when my eighteen year old daughter and I watched a PBS-replay of a 1990 documentary about the children's television host, there were tears in our family room.
Rogers, an ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church, was a genuinely gentle soul whose life and work ennobled us all. His soft-spoken manner made him an easy target for comedic parodies. But at the core of the man was a fiery passion and a mission to which he remained faithful from the day when, as a newly graduated college student headed for seminary, he abruptly changed career directions to "work in television," helping kids love themselves and others.
On February 27, 1999, four years before his death, Rogers was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. His acceptance speech that night makes for interesting and inspiring reading. (You can find it at http://thatmusicplace.com/thoughts/rogers.html.)
One passage from the speech really struck me as I read it last night. "I feel that those of us in television are chosen to be servants," Rogers said. "...we are chosen to help meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen day and night."
Anyone who observed Fred Rogers on television or listened to those who knew him best, could see that there was a real joy in the man. He was happy with who he was and happy about helping children in important ways. Rogers' servanthood confirmed the truth of Albert Schweitzer's words that, ""Every person I have known who has been truly happy, has learned to serve others." Rogers knew Jesus' words about the last being first and the first being last. He was willing to be a servant to kids because he knew that Jesus had secured his place in eternity. He lived with the happy abandonment of a Jesus follower!
Fred Rogers learned to serve. He spent a lifetime serving the weakest and neediest among us, our children. I hope that before my time is done on this planet, I will be half the servant of God and neighbor that he was.
