Tag: Mister Rogers

Well With My Soul

Friday has kind of lost its novelty, a little bit these days, hasn’t it? I still love Fridays, though. Friday signifies completion of a harried, momentous, emotional week with the realization that we are still alive and kicking. We are survivors and we are thrivers.

I keep lots of inspirational notebooks, where I paste things that move me, whether they be pictures or words. Yesterday, I pulled out one of the notebooks that I kept during the last major recession. Two things stood out to me yesterday from this particular notebook. One is this simple prayer (sorry, I don’t know who to credit):

Dear God,

Please stop the storms within me.

Make peaceful my mind and calm my heart.

Reveal to me the love around me,

That my fear might fall away.

Amen.

Second, these are Maya Angelou’s beautiful, inspiring words:

“Love heals. Heals and liberates. I use the word love, not meaning sentimentality, but a condition so strong that it may be that which holds the stars in their heavenly positions and that which causes the blood to flow orderly in our veins.”

Here are some of my favorite actions taken during these very tumultuous times. These are very apropos of a good Favorite Things Friday:

+My friend sent a link to this yesterday to our friend group chat. I can’t stop listening to it. This hymn was always a generational family favorite.

+Over 12,000 Airbnb hosts opened their homes up to medical responders to the victims of the coronavirus.

+Kylie Jenner donated one million dollars towards medical equipment to her local hospitals. (She’s now my favorite Kardashian)

+Crocs, the shoe company, is giving away its shoes free to healthcare workers during this traumatic time.

+The luxurious Four Seasons Hotel is giving free stays to NYC doctors, fighting for lives of coronavirus victims.

+James Dyson (think vacuum cleaners and hand dryers) came up with a new ventilator model design in just ten days. What a brilliant man! He is producing 15,000 of them and donating 5,000 of them to the international effort to save lives.

+My friend in Virginia was part of a “teacher parade” yesterday, where teachers paraded in their caravan of cars, throughout the neighborhoods of their students. They held up poster board signs of love and encouragement, giving students a sense that “all is going to be okay”.

+A “sewing army” as they are called, of volunteer crafters, are making thousands of homemade masks as a back-up, should our medical workers fall short of their own supply.

++++++Late addition, but I had to add it. Drew Brees and his wife donated five million dollars to Louisiana towards coronavirus relief and look how big-hearted Hoda Kotb (Today Show) reacted. So touching and real:

These are just a few of many remarkable acts of love, generosity and courage, which have come out of this dark, harrowing situation we are facing these days. Please, please add any wonderful stories that you have heard in the news or have seen in your own neighborhoods, in my Comments section. Love prevails. Don’t forget that. Love ALWAYS prevails. Have a wonderful weekend, friends. Look for the helpers. They are EVERYWHERE.

Here She Goes Again

I have a very busy day ahead, so I am taking the lazy way out. A couple of months ago, I answered a question on Quora, that has gotten a fair amount of positive attention. It relates to aging. So now people ask me all sorts of questions on Quora, all related to being old. It’s a little depressing, at the YOUTHFUL age of 48, to be considered old. I read this quote in Mister Roger’s book, The World According to Mr. Rogers. I liked this take on aging:

“All life events are formative. All contribute to what we become, year by year, as we go on growing. As my friend the poet Kenneth Koch once said, ‘You aren’t the age you are. You are all the ages you have ever been!’ “

Please forgive my redundancy if you have already read this answer on Quora. Here it is:

What screams “I’m getting older”?

When I was younger, I swore to myself that I would never be one of those “old fogies” who made cracks about the strangeness and ridiculousness of the younger generations. I have always prided myself on being open minded and I want to remain that way.

Still, as I age, I have found myself having to bite my tongue, more and more, on situations, attitudes, and proclivities of the younger generations. I have to remind myself more and more that the older generations felt the very same way about me and my generation, and I think my generation is just dandy. I guess it is that arrogant, condescending demeanor that I think can sometimes be a dead giveaway that screams, “I’m getting older.” It also screams of fear of change and a need for control.

That being said, trying to be part of the younger generations, just to prove that you are still “with it” and “hip” (those words probably age me right now, I know), like for instance, getting a bunch of tattoos, not because you want the tattoos, but you want people to think you are young at heart, also screams “I’m getting older”. These rash actions also scream, “And I’m Desperate to Stop Getting Older!”

The people who I like best, no matter what their age, are those people who are very comfortable in their own skin. They don’t need everyone to agree with their choices, and their likes and dislikes. They have a “live and let live attitude” and they wear their attitude with a lot of zest. These people age best, in my opinion.

Very Neighborly

I saw that the Mister Rogers (Fred Rogers) documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? will be available on Redbox on September 4th.   I marked it on my calendar.  I’m sorry that I missed seeing it at the theaters, but I’m really looking forward to watching it soon.  Like most adults my age, I grew up watching Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on television regularly.

When I was a kid, I saw Mister Rogers as a nice, kind, gentle man.  I found his show calming and predictable, in a good way.  I had no idea of just how wise a man he was, until I started reading some of his writings.  He was a man who was entirely devoted to what he saw as his purpose in life – the caring for and betterment of children.

One of my favorite quotes from Mister Rogers which has oft been repeated, especially during horrific times in history like 9/11, is this, “Look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.”

That is excellent advice that we often espouse to our children.  I would tell my kids if they ever got lost in a store or at a park, to look for other mommies like me.  Ladies helping children, would be the best people to ask for help.  We think of this as good advice for children, but in reality, isn’t it good advice for everyone? Look for the helpers.

As adults we sometimes get trapped into believing the “I’ve got this,” mentality.  We think we must be stoic, independent and all powerful.  We tell our children to “look for the helpers,” but for some reason we think that once we hit the adulthood button, we don’t need any help.  Ironically, we think it is important to do good, kind deeds for others in our community, but we ourselves don’t need any help.  Extra ironically, it’s typically the people who have been on the receiving end of help that are able to give back and to help others in the best way. These people have empathy to know what it feels like to be helped back on to their own two feet and they want to pass that blessing on.

A few years back a friend of mine was lamenting about feeling like he had lost his idealism.  A young woman who had grown up in the same town as he had grown up in had just died in the Middle East.  She had been there helping survivors of ISIS torture and she was tragically killed for doing the good.  My friend was in awe of her heroism and felt ashamed that he hadn’t done more for society.  Now from an outside view, this man is the epitome of “helper.”  He is an excellent family man, always doing things with and for his wife and his kids; he was always there for friends and neighbors to listen and then to offer heartfelt, thought-out advice and assistance.  He had even “adopted” and helped an elderly couple in his neighborhood as if they were his own parents.

I think sometimes we all get trapped into thinking that we have to do big and dramatic things to make a difference in the world.  We live in awe of the Gandhis and Martin Luther Kings and Mother Teresas and Mister Rogers of the world, and we sometimes feel small and worthless in comparison.  But what if they are just the Big Examples who our Source has put in place to remind the rest of us to be everyday helpers and yet also to accept help when we need it?  What if they are just the Big Reminders to us to be kind and loving in our everyday interactions with each other?  While I admire and respect the big gestures and convictions of others, it is the every day people who have shown me the face of God in a very personal way and I am not sure which is more important, but I know all of it is very important.

I’ll end with this quote from Mister Fred Rogers, “The purpose of life is to listen – to yourself, to your neighbor, to your world and to God and, when the time comes, to respond in as helpful a way as you can find . . . from within and without.”