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There's a mistaken impression that today is the 50th anniversary of the first Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood on PBS. It's not. That comes next Feb. 19 (the first version of what would become Mr. Rogers Neighborhood actually was in 1953). But it's never not a good day to hold on to the goodness of Fred Rogers.

Whenever inhumanity defines a day on the planet, Mr. Rogers makes a reappearance to a new generation, reminding us to “look for the helpers -- because if you look for the helpers, then you’ll know there’s hope.”

Hope would be easier if there were still a Mr. Rogers, but he died in 2003 and no one ever took his place in popular culture. Bravado is in now; kindness is -- too often -- considered a weakness.

"Mister Rogers’ neighborhood was, in many ways, a suburb, and, today, it retains the limitations of a typical suburb; it’s mostly white, conservative in its values, blandly Protestant in its sensibility," Phillip Maciak, assistant professor of English and Film at Louisiana State University, writes on 

On Twitter today, author Anthony Breznican tells the story of his encounter with Mr. Rogers.

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866862355040292864

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866863066314547200

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866863692071161856

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866864546987692032

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866865401455493124

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866866290442383366

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866866861379469312

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866867614911475712

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866868392011087872

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866869195782242304

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866869869395853313

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866870525871575040

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866871140643295233

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866872045195345920

https://twitter.com/Breznican/status/866872758109523968

9 times Mister Rogers said exactly the right thing

NewsCut

Bob Collins

Author

There's a mistaken impression that today is the 50th anniversary of the first Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood on PBS. It's not. That comes next February 19th (the first version of what would become Mr. Rogers Neighborhood actually was in 1953). But it's never not a good day to hold on to the goodness of Fred Rogers.

A longing for Mr. Rogers

Go Deeper.

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