I Grew Up in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood

On Thanksgiving Day, many of us spend time arguing politics with the “once-a-year” family…and overeating. Maybe we’ll watch a 64-foot long helium-filled “Elf on the Shelf” make its way down Sixth Avenue in New York for the annual Thanksgiving Day Macy’s advertisement, or a little football…or take a walk…or, very likely, nap. We might even squeeze in a moment of actual thanks-giving...to a deity or a houseplant or to whoever did the cooking. Me? I give thanks to Mister Rogers.

I grew up in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, a small town 35 miles southeast of Pittsburgh that raised two Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients, Arnold Palmer and Fred Rogers. My childhood was spent playing ball on the same fields, walking the same streets, even attending the same schools as those two. Admittedly, both of those esteemed residents were decades ahead of me when they graduated (one year apart) from good ol’ Latrobe High School, but I still feel a kinship with them…particularly with Mister Rogers. He was an asthmatic, overweight and introverted kid…and his deep sensitivity and empathy for others (that became his amazing gift to the world’s children) grew out of his own childhood struggles.

I’m thankful for that small town of Latrobe (also the birthplace of professional football and the banana split) because it contributed to how I grew up. I think Mister Rogers would say the same thing. It was (and still is) a town that took care of its own. It’s a strong, hard-working blue-collar town where people feel safe and comfortable and at home, although not without its modern-day challenges. It had two radio stations, where the community would come together to play “radio bingo” or listen to Li'l John Nalevanko’s Polka Show. These were stations proudly broadcasting in mono and with Amplitude Modulation (I worked for one of them), shielding the town from the evils of the FM signals coming from the big city. It still feels like a “neighborhood”…where kindness and helping others matter. Mister Rogers’ Original Neighborhood remains a special place. How else can you explain what and who it’s produced?

During Fred Rogers’ childhood, Latrobe was a town with a trolley…which became the famous “Neighborhood Trolley”. His beloved maternal grandfather was Mr. McFeely, a name later lovingly assigned to “the delivery man” in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. And “Brocket's Bakery” (also on the TV show) represented any of the fabulous bakeries in downtown Latrobe during the town’s heyday. But aside from some of the town’s fixtures finding their way into the legendary children’s television program, the warm soul of Latrobe got in there as well. From Fred Rogers’ childhood to my own, Latrobe taught us how to look for and find the good in others…to be kind to one another...and to like you just the way you are.

On this Thanksgiving, I’m going to think about Mister Rogers and my parents…all spending this day and all next days about 100 yards apart in Latrobe’s Unity Cemetery. I’m going to remember the distant rumble of the impossibly long freight trains traveling through town on the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the same rumble Fred Rogers heard as a shy child. Then I’ll slip on my sneakers and cardigan (with the zipper in the front) and read some quotes from Mister Rogers…my homeboy. His words…his life…are something to be thankful for.

“I hope you’re proud of yourself for the times you’ve said ‘yes,’ when all it meant was extra work for you and was seemingly helpful only to somebody else.”

“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”

“Everyone longs to be loved. And the greatest thing we can do is to let people know that they are loved and capable of loving.”

“There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”

“When I say it’s you I like, I’m talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed.”

Happy Thanksgiving.