Mr. Rogers and The Garden of Your Mind Jun15

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Mr. Rogers and The Garden of Your Mind

Fred Rogers was a Presbyterian minister serving in the Pittsburgh area who was dissatisfied with television programming for children and decided to do something about it. His “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” ran for nearly 35 years, influencing a generation of children, including me.

A week ago PBS released a remix of several scenes from his shows entitled “The Garden of Your Mind.” It’s already garnered more than 4 million views and seemed like a good pre-Father’s Day selection. The YouTube description closes with the invitation, “If you like this video, please support your local PBS station.” Indeed.

Speaking of support for PBS, Open Culture pointed me to this video of Fred Rogers’ now famous testimony before the Senate to fund public television and, in particular, the need to support children’s programs. And it worked! Though the Senate had planned on cutting a proposed grant to fund public television from $20 million to $10 million, after this testimony they restored the full funding. The power of passion and humility at work.

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