Why People Are Crying About Mr. Rogers

On Kindness, Love and Compassion

For the past few months people have been having visceral reactions to the Mister Rogers documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor.” And this was before the movie had even been released.

People were actively crying while watching the preview trailer for the documentary. Now that it has been released, people are sharing stories about entire movie theatres of strangers crying together. Why?

Mr. Rogers is Mr. Rogers

For some people who grew up watching Mister Roger’s Neighborhood, Fred Rogers might have been the one genuinely kind, open and caring person they knew — the only person brave enough to ask them how they were feeling and tell them he loved them just the way they are.

For others, Fred Rogers embodies all of the best qualities of loved ones who are separated by time and space.

I’m in that last camp. Watching Mr. Rogers makes me cry because he is so much like my paternal grandmother. Mary Emma Mellen was a sweet woman filled with unconditional love for all of the children in her family. What made such an impact on my life was that my grandmother also showed unconditional love to all of the students who crossed her path teaching third grade for decades, and in retirement tutoring adults through and adult literacy program. She showed kindness and respect to everyone she met and supported social justice and civil rights as important work to honor loving thy neighbor.

My sister recently referred to Grandma as our “true north,” which is very fitting. Grandma was everything that was good about the Catholic faith and teaching and love and true compassion.

Why Now

The staying power of Mister Rogers demonstrates, even now amidst discord and partisan bickering at levels beyond belief, that there is good in this world. Kind, caring, loving, open and accepting people do exist. Fred Rogers is the quintessential embodiment of this in recent American history, because his show sought to send out a message of loving kindness following the tumultuous upheaval of the 1960s, and the lasting racial tensions our country has never fully examined.

For multiple generations, whether they had someone like my grandmother in their life or not, they had Fred Rogers as their common true north. Mr. Rogers was the person everyone knew as an exemplar of loving your neighbor, and taught us all how to love and be loved. We need that now more than ever.