Editor’s Notes
Won’t You Be My Neighbor?
by Fr. Richard Bayuk, c.pp.s., Editor
It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor. Would
you be mine?
Could you be mine? I have always wanted to have a neighbor just like you.
I've always wanted to live in a neighborhood with you. Please won't you be my
neighbor? –Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood
The 2018 documentary “Won’t You Be My Neighbor” is an intimate
look at the life, legacy, and guiding philosophy of Fred Rogers, the host and
creator of the long-running (1968-2001), influential, and well-liked children’s
program, “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.” One reviewer described it as “an
emotional and moving film [that] takes us beyond the zip-up cardigans
and the land of make-believe, and into the heart of a creative genius who
inspired generations of children with compassion and limitless imagination.”
“Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood” was a quiet celebration of humanity,
diversity, equality, compassion, family, and decency—and being neighbors
to one another. Our politics and public discourse, on the other hand, seem
to have gone toxic and, as one commentator put it, “the culture seems to
have congealed into a permanent state of outrage, vulgarity, and mutual
intolerance.” Watching this movie feels like being wrapped in a security
blanket of empathy and kindness, while listening to an appeal for civility.
What did being a neighbor mean for Mr. Rogers? In the premier
episode of the show, the leader of the Neighborhood of Make-Believe—a
“benevolent monarch” named King Friday xiii—announces a plan to
build a wall around his kingdom to keep out the “undesirables” and the
“changers.” In a later—and influential—episode, Mr. Rogers is soaking his
feet in a small basin of water on a hot day and invites recurring character
Officer Clemmons, who is African-American, to join him (this at a time of
segregated swimming pools in parts of the U.S.). “I have always wanted to
have a neighbor just like you,” Mr. Rogers sings as they sit side by side.
His last show aired several months before 9-11. When later called upon to
speak about the attacks, Fred Rogers was—according to his wife Joanne—
filled with doubt that despite his efforts, the world seemed not to have heard
a word he had said for the past 30 years. And yet, this was his message: “No
matter what our particular job, especially in our world today, we are all
called to be tikkun olam, ‘repairers of creation.’ Thank you for whatever you
do, wherever you are, to bring joy and light and hope and faith and pardon
and love to your neighbor and to yourself.”
continued on page 6
2 • The New Wine Press • November 2018