Ananya Sri Ram – USA
The author
On March 20, 1928, a little boy was born into a wealthy family. The little boy’s father was the president of a very successful business in the town where they lived. The little boy’s mother was the daughter of the man who owned the successful business. She originally wanted to study medicine, but settled for a life of volunteer work. She knitted sweaters for the American troops fighting the war in Europe and helped at the local hospital.
Despite having the comforts that every child could want, the little boy grew up shy and lonely. He suffered from asthma (which could be deadly in those days) and spent most of his childhood indoors playing by himself. As an only child who was sick much of the time, his parents were a bit overprotective. The lack of physical activity led to the little boy being overweight, so he was bullied at school and called names. It was not until he got to high school that the young boy slowly came out of his shell due to his friendship with the popular high school quarterback.
Eventually, this young man went onto college and studied music. He was going to join the seminary, but got distracted by something new and exciting at that time: television. Soon he made a career in television and became known to millions of children (and adults) due to his childlike sensitivity, his ability to understand how children relate, and his stress on what children need for their well-being and growth. The impact he had on child education and psychology put him on par with such people as Erik Erikson, Jean Piaget, and Maria Montessori. He also taught children, and adults alike, how to be a neighbor. His name was Fred McFeely Rogers, otherwise known as Mister Rogers, creator of Mister Rogers Neighborhood.
Fred Rogers
For those unfamiliar with Fred Rogers, I highly recommend watching the award winning documentary “Our Assignment from Fred Rogers” (2020) as well as the recent movie “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” starring Tom Hanks as Fred Rogers.
[For the documentary click HERE]
Both productions are excellent. The documentary covers the life and work of Mister Rogers who died in 2003. The movie retells the story of how journalist Tom Junod got to know Mister Rogers around 1997 and interviewed him for a featured article Can You Say . . . Hero? for Esquire magazine. Some of the quotes and stories of Mister Rogers in this article are from Junod’s touching piece, originally published in 1998.
It might seem strange to write about a man who spent 31 years talking, teaching, and singing to children through the medium of television, ending each show with the line “You make each day special just by being you.” After all, what does his life have to do with Theosophy? Well, everything. Often, we come across Theosophists who know nothing about the Theosophical Society and are not members. Living a theosophical life has nothing to do with whether one belongs to the organization. Nor does it have to do with studying the material. The organization is a structure designed to bring people together with a common purpose. The material we study are the teachings offered by the organization’s founders and various leaders. They are lights along the path that we eventually make by living the teachings. Living theosophy is something only an individual knows once they begin putting the principles into practice. It is only by living a theosophical life that the path we are to tread is created. Until then, we are just part of a structure studying material from and about that particular structure. But incorporating the teachings into our lives is what makes theosophy a living entity.
As mentioned before, there are many in the world who live a theosophical life, but have nothing to do with the organization. Mister Rogers was one of those people. As an ordained Presbyterian minister, Rogers spent his life embodying the principles of love, compassion, empathy, and acceptance. Through his television show, he discussed and empathized with children who struggled with feelings that parents did not always address like divorce, death, sickness, and violence. In his steady, gentle voice he shared with children his own feelings about sadness but reframed things finding a positive aspect to such feelings, stressing they were temporary.
In her Blavatsky lecture, The Human Journey, Quest for Self-Transformation, Joy Mills states,
“. . . being human is really a process in which we are constantly engaged. It is a journey towards knowing, feeling, and comprehending more; towards a transformation that will carry us beyond ourselves. It is a journey in which the very process of travelling is not distinct from the unfolding awareness of our own mystery—the beautiful and awesome mystery of being human.” In a world filled with noise and insensitivity, we lose touch with our humanness. It is only through a process of engagement or awareness that we can understand what it means to be human. Such engagement requires a sensitivity to the subtleness of things. That subtlety in its true form is Love.
In the documentary on Roger’s life, he states “Love is at the root of everything . . . Love is what keeps us together and afloat.” Later as he is discussing his philosophy he emphasizes, “We need to help our children become more and more aware that what is essential in life is invisible to the eye.” This recalled words from The Voice of the Silence about the Heart Doctrine versus the Eye Doctrine: “Before thou takest thy first step learn to discern the real from the false, the ever-fleeting from the everlasting. Learn above all to separate Head-learning from Soul-Wisdom, the “Eye” from the “Heart” doctrine.”
These words hold much value in today’s materialistic world. And while humans in general have always been materialistic, studies state that social media and consumer culture in general has increased the rate of materialism among young people. Certain populations pride themselves on spending their money on experiences versus material items, but those experiences also have an impact on the ecology of the world through the materials needed to have those experiences.
One of the virtues that Rogers emphasized continuously in his life was goodness. Being a minister, it may be understood that goodness to Rogers was one’s connection to God and realizing that we all hold the Divine within us. But Rogers was also aware that everyone’s belief was different so explained it as “caring for each other in a myriad of ways.” He stated that “The only thing that ever really changes the world is when somebody gets the idea that love can abound and can be shared.” This statement is similar to Madame Blavatsky’s words in The Key to Theosophy that Theosophy is altruism and the only cure to the world’s ills.
While many of us know this to be true, we may contemplate these questions for our own life: Do we dedicate our waking day to loving our way through life? Do we practice gentle thoughts and deeds towards others and ourselves? Do we think of other’s needs before thinking of our own? Are we comfortable enough with ourselves and who we are, so we can ignore the unkind comments from others? Do we realize that if fear reigns our life, love cannot abound?
Such questions came to my own mind as I watched and read the life of Mister Rogers. Disarmingly honest like a child, I wondered if the qualities of Rogers—curious, inquisitive, unashamed, honest, simple, joyful, playful, unabashed---were not qualities we should try to incorporate in our lives. Our lives become so complicated due the overthinking we have about situations. If we are engaged, aware, other-focused, attentive, and open-hearted, everything else disappears when we are present with someone. This was seen continuously in the life of Rogers. He was not just the host of a television show; he lived and breathed the goodness he so often spoke about.
Tom Junod tells the story of a group of ophthalmologists who were writing a book for other ophthalmologists. They wanted Fred Rogers to write a chapter for them explaining what doctors could do to keep children calm when seeing the eye doctor. Mister Rogers was too busy to write the piece so asked a woman who worked with him to write it. Several drafts were written and a final copy was given to Rogers who crossed everything out and wrote “You were a child once, too.” And that is how the chapter started. Simple.
Perhaps to understand the “beauty and awesome mystery of being human” that Joy Mills mentions in her lecture and to help us love our way through life, we can ponder closing words that Rogers gave during a commencement speech. His words, so heartfelt, bring us to a vulnerable place within, allowing us to remember and be grateful for this human journey:
“From the time you were very little, you’ve had people who have smiled you into smiling, people who have talked you into talking, sung you into singing, and loved you into loving.”