Things to remember along the way

I don’t think anyone can grow unless he’s loved exactly as he is now, appreciated for what he is rather than what he will be.

Words to live by, according to Fred Rogers that is. Back in January, one of my best friends, Mary, gave me such a beautiful, special and unique gift: Life’s Journey According to Mister Rogers. This book has helped me very much throughout the past few months, as well as my dear friend. It is a small book of inspiring words said and written by our favorite cardigan wearing neighbor. The coolest thing about this book is once I have had my time with it and absorbed all the inspiration, I pass it along to someone else that may benefit from it. Mary had the book for quite a few months and then it hit her. She knew I was the perfect person to benefit from this book so she gave it to me. I am not sure who I am going to give the book to but I think just like Mary, when the right person comes along, I’ll know. I wish I could give it to everyone in my life because he says some really awesome things. I decided why not share some of my favorite quotes from the book therefore numerous people can get a little taste of the life guru that is Mister Rogers. The book ends with a commencement speech he presented to a graduating class where he attended high school. It is very uplifting and the way he views life is remarkable. It is very refreshing when we are surrounded by so much negativity these days. I hope his words find their way into your hearts and you can see the beauty of life as it is, right now. 

*There are many times that I wish I had heard that “just who you are at this moment, with the way you are feeling, is fine. You don’t have to be anything more than who you are right now”.  I’d like to think it’s also something that’s happened to me through the years, that I’m more able to accept myself as I happen to be, rather than as somebody thought I should be.*

*If we’re really honest with ourselves, there are probably times when we think, “What possible use can I be in this world? What need is there for somebody like me to fill? That’s one of the deeper mysteries. Then God’s grace comes to us in the form of another person who tells us we have been of help, and what a blessing that is.*

*When people help us to feel good about who we are, they are really helping us to love the meaning of what we create in this life. It seems to me that the most essential element in the development of any creation must be love—a love that begins in the simple expressions of care for a little child, and, once received, goes to mature into responsible feelings about ourselves and others.*

*I need thinking time when someone asks me a searching question. I wonder why it seems to be so uncomfortable for many people to wait through the silence. People of all ages have deep feelings, and if we have patience to wait through the silence, it’s often astounding what people tell us.*

*As a relationship matures, you start to see that just being there for each other is the most important thing you can do, just being there to listen and be sorry with them, to be happy with them, to share all that there is to share.*

*Honesty is often very hard. The truth is often painful. But the freedom it can bring is worth the trying.*

*Transitions are almost always signs of growth but they can bring feelings of loss. To get somewhere new, you may have to leave somewhere else behind.*

*It is tempting to cling to the familiar. Just like in music, if we keep living….playing in the key of C, we wouldn’t have to take any risks of not making it to the key of E-flat. But we’d never know what it sounded like unless we tried. And once we’ve had the practice and pleasure of making a transition from one key to the next, the subsequent times might not be so quite difficult.*

Graduation Speech at Latrobe High School

“You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make your free.”

It’s hard for me to believe that it was 1946 when I last sat in this room looking up at those words above this stage. I can tell you, most of my thoughts during my commencement week had to do with plans for the summer or the next year, certainly not fifty years from then! In fact, if somebody had told me that I would go to college and study music and theology and finally produce television programs for young children, I wouldn’t have believe them.

For one thing, I thought I was going to be an airline pilot. (I took flying lessons all during my senior year at the Latrobe Airport.) Obviously I didn’t make that dream come true. It was as if I was meant to do something I never even thought about. How could I have thought about it? In those days, hardly anybody was thinking about television.

Yet all the while, somewhere inside of me, I carried those words. “The truth shall make you free.” And I tried almost unconsciously to discover the truth about who I was and about my neighbor (the person I happened to be with at the moment.) I found out at every turn in the road, that truth seemed to set me free enough to go on.

Dr. Fred Rainsberry was the person who first put me in front of the television camera. For eight years I had co-produced a daily program called The Children’s Corner. I wrote and played the music and voiced the puppets all behind the set.

When Dr. Rainsberry, the head of children’s programming, asked me to work for his department at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, he said, “Fred, I’ve seen you talk with kids. Let’s put you yourself on the air.” I told him I’d never done such a thing, but he replied, “Let’s give it a try. We’ll call it ‘Misterogers.’” His confidence and support launched me into something I may have never dared to do on my own.

Fifty years from now I trust that you’ll look back over your journey and recognize the blessings—great and small—which helped to carry you through, and also realize how other people shared their truth and their light with you and made the trip less lonely.

You know, none of us gets to be competent, mature people without the help of others. By now you’ve discovered that you don’t have to go it alone. In fact, no one gets to be a graduate without the investment of other people: people who have loved you all along the way.

During this extra-special time, I’d like to give you a minute to think about those who have believed in you….those who have helped you live your life knowing what was good and real. A minute of silence for all of us to remember those who have cared about us through our lives: people who have made a significant difference in our being, who we are right now. One minute of silence.

Whomever you’ve been thinking about, whether they are here or far away or even in heaven, imagine how pleased they’d be to know that you recognize what a difference they’ve made in your becoming. And I trust that you’ll discover how much our world needs your truth.

May you seek out your own continuing life education and over time, over your whole lifetime, may you grow in faith and reverence, uprightness in morals, knowledge of language and arts, forgiveness, honesty, commitment, maturity, and your capacity to love.

You’ll be the one to decide your next steps…and the next steps won’t all be easy—not by any means—but if they’re honest, they’ll be worth the try. Any real work has its tough times (you know that), and any real love has its trials. I wish you the kind of life’s work in which you can use the greatest part of who you are; and I wish you the kind of life’s love that will enhance all that you do, as well as all that you are.

My hope for you at the beginning of this new moment in your life that you will take good care of that part of you where your best dreams come from,  that invisible part of you that allows you to look on yourself and your neighbor with delight. Do your best to appreciate the gifts that you really are and always will be….to look for every opportunity that allows you to clap and cheer, loving your neighbor and yourself.