Mr. Rogers Is Better Than You

It has been a while since I thought about the show, but Gorilla Mask had a link to a great post discussing the greatness of Mister Rogers. Without ever lifting a weapon or saying an angry word, he humbled celebrities, inspired politicians (in a good way), and brought down the entertainment industry in one of the first fights over intellectual property. Back then, the evil device du jour was the VCR.

This story in particular was moving, although few things he did do weren't moving.

Once, on a fancy trip up to a PBS exec’s house, he heard the limo driver was going to wait outside for 2 hours, so he insisted the driver come in and join them (which flustered the host). On the way back, Rogers sat up front, and when he learned that they were passing the driver’s home on the way, he asked if they could stop in to meet his family. According to the driver, it was one of the best nights of his life—the house supposedly lit up when Rogers arrived, and he played jazz piano and bantered with them late into the night. Further, like with the reporters, Rogers sent him notes and kept in touch with the driver for the rest of his life.

Such kindness allowed him to save public television under the Nixon(!) administration, inspire thieves to return a car they stole from him, and make hardened NYC commuters in a subway burst out in song. I actually shed a few tears reading about him again.