'Love is an active noun...'

Knowing that we can be loved exactly as we are gives us all the best opportunity for growing into the healthiest of people. Fred Rogers

I hope you saw It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood with Tom Hanks, who was nominated for best supporting actor by numerous organizations for his performance as Fred Rogers. Puppeteer Mr. Rogers created one of the earliest children’s television programs during the second half of the 20 century.  For this ordained Presbyterian minister, “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood” was his church. His congregation was the generations of very young spectators who learned from this kindly neighbor, in soft and gentle tones, that it’s okay to have feelings. He taught ways to manage those feelings.

The movie revolves around one very cynical journalist, the real life Tom Junod, assigned by Esquire Magazine to write about Mr. Rogers. What was supposed to be a short 400-word bio turned into a 10,000 word essay that became “Can You Say…Hero?,” the November 1998 cover story for the magazine.   That  article, now available on the Internet, illustrates what makes a good story. Instead of writing a typical chronological biography, Junod wove together a variety of interactions that he observed between Rogers, adults and children.  For the reporter, these vignettes defined the man who was forever reminding adults, “Remember what it was like to be a child.” He made a believer out of Junod and they remained close friends until Mr. Rogers died.

Because the movie script was based on his article, Junod has both a financial and personal interest in it. Because the authors took literary license with the journalist’s own life, he asked that the name of the main character be changed. The authors dubbed the fictional journalist Lloyd Vogel.

In an interview with Esquire Magazine, Junod says, “Yeah the thing that I relate to in the movie is the similarities. The differences melt away…I’ve seen the movie a number of times now and every time it grabs me…It makes you not just see Mr. Rogers, not just learn about Mr. Rogers, but when you watch the movie, you experience Mr. Rogers. His friendship is extended to you in the audience.”

Because Junod had developed an unsavory reputation for discrediting the subjects he wrote about, celebrities denied his requests for interviews. According to Rachel E. Greenspan, writing for Time Magazine, Rogers, despite protests from his staff, was the only “hero” who agreed to let Junod interview him.

The time the journalist spent with the television icon changed his life. He says that the friendship not only made him a better journalist, it also made him a better person.

He wasn’t the only one. Once when interviewer and interviewee couldn’t catch a cab, they rode the subway. Before long, children of all ages were singing “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?” to the celebrity that most adults on the train didn’t recognize.

This movie, plus the documentary Won’t You Be My Neighbor? which aired a year earlier, brought the TV star’s family into the spotlight. Rogers’s son John says that he was excited by the news that Tom Hanks would play his dad. “Dad probably watched Forrest Gump probably a hundred times.”

Being the sons of Mr. Rogers, “other daddy,” as the boys dubbed the TV image when they were very young, was difficult. Of course by middle school, they were teased about how moral their dad seemed.

John adds, “Living up to a legend such as he was challenging for me growing up. I had my issues with that. But at about age 30, I sort of came to peace with it. I was like, ‘You know what? I’m happy with myself.’ And didn’t dad always teach us? ‘Be happy with the way you are.’”

The younger son, Jim, who went through a rebellious spell as a teen, said, “But dad always gave me room to grow.”

Junod records several occasions where Rogers, after talking with a terminally ill person or one living with disabilities, asked for that person to pray for him. When the reporter commented that it was a kind act.

Rogers replied, “Oh, heavens no! I didn’t ask him for his prayers for him. I asked for me. I asked him because I think that anyone who has gone through challenges like that must be very close to God. I asked him because I want his intercession.”

These two movies, filmed 15 years after the death of the television star acknowledges that Mr. Rogers the puppeteer was play acting on screen, but his message always was true.

"Love isn’t a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like struggle. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now." Fred Rogers says.

2020