Tags
civility, ethical reasoning, feelings, Fred Rogers, live together, Mr. Rogers, self-worth, sharing, The Sophia Center for Spirituality, tolerance
Brian Johnson had his son, Emerson, on his optimize.me video blog today to share a message about Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood. Fred Rogers, as most people know, was a great influence for positive thinking for children over 33 years on his television series, Mr Rogers’ Neighborhood, and since then in his books.
So I took a bit of a divergent path into his biography to see what I didn’t know (see “Fred Rogers” on the internet) and found that much of what he taught to children could be helpful for adults today as well. The article I read about him emphasized not only the child’s developing psyche but also “feelings, sense of moral and ethical reasoning, civility, tolerance, sharing and self-worth,” topics that we all might want to spend some time pondering these days…
Brian and Emerson were talking about a Mr. Rogers’ song called “It’s You I Like.” It goes like this:
It’s you I like. It’s not the things you wear/ It’s not the way you do your hair/But it’s you I like. The way you are right now/The way down deep inside you/Not the things that hide you/Not your toys/They’re just beside you./But it’s you I like. Every part of you/Your skin, your eyes, your feelings whether old or new. I hope that you’ll remember/Even when you’re feeling blue/That it’s you I like/It’s you yourself/It’s you/It’s you I like.
Maybe you don’t know the tune but is there someone with whom you might share those lyrics or some similar sentiment today? Why not take a lesson from the children or the man who taught them – and us – so much about how to live together in this world? After all, there’s always someone who might need to hear the words, “It’s you I like; it’s you!”
