Remembering Fred Rogers...

[electricmayhem]

My childhood largely consisted of Sesame Steet and Mister Roger's Neighborhood. It makes me so sad just to think that he is gone. I loved his show and I loved him. Right now I'm watching "Follow that Bird" and the part with Chevy Chase as the newscaster was on and this is how he gave the weather report:
"It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, a beautiful day for a neighbor, won't you be mine." So that made me tear up. At least he will always be remembered for the wonderful work he did!
We miss you Mr. Rogers, thank you for everything you gave us

 

[Emerald]

Mr. Rogers

I can't believe it! It's the end of an era.... Goodbye, Mr Rogers. Goodbye, childhood.

 

[matleo]

heh. I went up to my mother's today to do laundry and while I was there began flipping through the channels (this was around 10 this morning).....war heating up in Iraq, President Bush meets with foreign leaders, Robert Blake trial, horror, chaos, evil, pain, suffering....a door and some piano music. And in walked our friend. our neighbor. Smiling cause he was happy to see me. He had on his usual windbreaker jacket which he wasted no time in changing out of and into a nice green cardigan. He swtiched his loafers for a more comfortable pair of tennis shoes (but not before tossing one shoe from his left to right hand). And reminding me how happy life was because we were together. "Good morning neighbor!"..."Good Morning Mr. Rogers" I replied suppressing a tear. "I have a picture of a fish that I drew that I wanted to show you..." and we went from there. I watched long enough to see him feed his fish and then continued my channel surfing to try and get my mind off of the loss I was feeling. I spent the rest of the day trying not to think about it. A little before 3:00 my laundry was done and I knew I would be coming home but I was also aware that Mr. Rogers was broadcasting again on one of the other local PBS stations. And I..I needed to see him one last time. I needed to know things were going to be okay. So I switched over and there he was checking on the fish and saying good-night to them. And walking over to change back into his jacket before going to his 'real home' and he stopped for a second while he changed his shoes..."Do you ever see things on tv that make you scared?" I nodded back. "There are a lot of things on television sometimes that are very frightening with people hitting and shooting each other. But you know you have the power to be stronger than them. You can stand right up and turn the television off when it gets too scary or frightening. And that makes you stronger. It takes a very strong person to turn the television off when we see something that frightens us." And it was odd to hear him talking about things from an episode he taped 3 years ago, before the date 9-11 meant antyhing, before names like Saddam or Bin Laden had any REAL meaning to many of us, before network reality shows that had us watching ot see terrible people do stupid things to themselves. And it struck me how much we needed Mr. Rogers now more than ever. How empty our world is now Fred Rogers is gone and there is no one to teach us that kind of compassion and instill those values. And I just sat there watching as he gave that all-knowing smile and reminded me how special I was and that he looked forward to seeing me tommorow. And Mr. Rogers sang his closing song just as he always had, and walked out the door. "Good-bye, neighbor. I'll see you tommorow."......"good-bye Mr. Rogers." I choked back. and he was gone.

 

[matleo]

sorry, for some reason it posted my message twice.

 

[Cantus Rock]

Oh Matt, that was beautiful.

And now I'm crying.

-Matt

 

[matleo]

Thanks, matt. I'm doing the same. This is REALLY hitting me hareder than I expected it too. I think there's a real good Bloom County cartoon somewhere where Opus ends up turning off the news in favor of the tranquility of Mr. Rogers. if I can find it, I'll try to scan it and post it somewhere.


--Matt

 

[electricmayhem]

Matt, that was really well said. But I think the thing that gets me the most is your signiture. I can hear him singing it...at least it brings a smile amid the tears

 

[Skeeter Muppet]

Originally posted by electricmayhem
Matt, that was really well said. But I think the thing that gets me the most is your signiture. I can hear him singing it...at least it brings a smile amid the tears

What electricmayhem said. I watched the end of Nightline tonight, and they had a segment on remembering Mr. Rogers. It was basically an interview with him done sometime before or just after the last new episode of the show was filmed. At the end of the interview the reporter asked if Mr. Rogers could say hi on-camera to the reporter's two children.

True to form, Mr. Rogers didn't just say hi to them. He added on a little message (that we didn't get to hear because the reporter did a voice over at that part), and finished up by playing and singing the song that's in matleo's quote. It just goes to show once again that Fred Rogers had one of the world's biggest hearts.

-Kim

 

[electricmayhem]

I just realized he had the same birthday as me. Does anyone have the last episode on tape? I never got to see it

 

[muppetfreak12]

wow

wow. life is really short. I'm 13 and have watched Mister Rogers Neighborhood since I was little. this is one of the worst things to happen, that I can remember, besides the puppet master himself, Jim Henson, dying. We will always remember him, and he will always be in our hearts.