Can You SayHero? - SEL at Meigs

1 Can You Rogers has been doing the samesmall good thing for a very long m J u n o dThis article was originally published in the November upon a time, a little boy loved a stuffed animal whosename was Old Rabbit. It was so old, in fact, that it was reallyan unstuffed animal; so old that even back then, with thelittle boy's brain still nice and fresh, he had no memory of itas "Young Rabbit," or even "Rabbit"; so old that Old Rabbitwas barely a rabbit at all but rather a greasy hunk of skinwithout eyes and ears, with a single red stitch where itstongue used to be. The little boy didn't know why he lovedOld Rabbit; he just did, and the night he threw it out the carwindow was the night he learned how to pray.

2 He wouldgrow up to become a great prayer, this little boy, but onlyintermittently, only fitfully, praying only when fear anddesperation drove him to it, and the night he threw OldRabbit into the darkness was the night that set the pattern,the night that taught him how. He prayed for Old Rabbit'ssafe return, and when, hours later, his mother and fathercame home with the filthy, precious strip of rabbity roadkill,he learned not only that prayers are sometimes answeredbut also the kind of severe effort they entail, the kind ofendless frantic summoning. And so when he threw OldRabbit out the car window the next time, it was gone u we re a c h i l d o n c e , t o o.

3 T h a t ' s w h a t M i s t e r Ro g e rs s a i d ,that's what he wrote down, once upon a time, for thedoctors. The doctors were ophthalmologists. Anophthalmologist is a doctor who takes care of the , ophthalmologists have to take care of the eyesof children, and some children get very scared, becausechildren know that their world disappears when their eyesclose, and they can be afraid that the ophthalmologists willmake their eyes close forever. The ophthalmologists did notwant to scare children, so they asked Mister Rogers forhelp, and Mister Rogers agreed to write a chapter for a bookthe ophthalmologists were putting together a chapterabout what other ophthalmologists could do to calm thechildren who came to their offices.

4 Because Mister Rogersis such a busy man, however, he could not write the chapterhimself, and he asked a woman who worked for him to writeit instead. She worked very hard at writing the chapter, untilone day she showed what she had written to Mister Rogers,who read it and crossed it all out and wrote a sentenceaddressed directly to the doctors who would be reading it:"You were a child once, too."Advertisement - Continue Reading BelowAnd that's how the chapter old navy-blue sport jacket comes off first, then thedress shoes, except that now there is not the famoussweater or the famous sneakers to replace them, and soafter the shoes he's on to the dark socks, peeling them offand showing the blanched skin of his narrow feet.

5 The tie isnext, the scanty black batwing of a bow tie hand-tied at hisslender throat, and then the shirt, always white or light blue,whisked from his body button by button. He wears anundershirt, of course, but no matter soon that's gone, too,as is the belt, as are the beige trousers, until hisundershorts stand as the last impediment to his are boxers, egg-colored, and to rid himself of them hebends at the waist, and stands on one leg, and hops, andlifts one knee toward his chest and then the other Mister Rogers has no clothes every morning of his life, Mister Rogers has goneswimming, and now, here he is, standing in a locker room,seventy years old and as white as the Easter Bunny, rimedwith frost wherever he has hair.

6 Gnawed pink in the spotswhere his dry skin has gone to flaking, slightly wattled at theneck, slightly stooped at the shoulder, slightly sunken in thechest, slightly curvy at the hips, slightly pigeoned at thetoes, slightly aswing at the fine bobbing nest of yet when he speaks, it is in that voice, his voice, thefamous one, the unmistakable one, the televised one, thevoice dressed in sweater and sneakers, the soft one, thereassuring one, the curious and expository one, the slyvoice that sounds adult to the ears of children and childishto the ears of adults, and what he says, in the midst of all hisbobbing nudity, is as understated as it is obvious: "Well,To m , I g u e s s y o u ' v e a l r e a d y g o t t e n a d e e p e r g l i m p s e i n t omy daily routine than most people have.

7 "Once upon a time, a long time ago, a man took off his jacketand put on a sweater. Then he took off his shoes and put ona pair of sneakers. His name was Fred Rogers. He wasstarting a television program, aimed at children, calledMister Rogers' Neighborhood. He had been on televisionbefore, but only as the voices and movements of puppets,on a program called The Children's Corner. Now he wasstepping in front of the camera as Mister Rogers, and hewanted to do things right, and whatever he did right, hewanted to repeat. And so, once upon a time, Fred Rogerstook off his jacket and put on a sweater his mother hadmade him, a cardigan with a zipper.

8 Then he took off hisshoes and put on a pair of navy-blue canvas boatingsneakers. He did the same thing the next day, and then he had done the same things, those things, 865times, at the beginning of 865 television programs, over aspan of thirty-one years. The first time I met Mister Rogers,he told me a story of how deeply his simple gestures hadbeen felt, and received. He had just come back from visitingKoko, the gorilla who has learned or who has been taught American Sign Language. Koko watches television. Kokowatches Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, and when MisterRogers, in his sweater and sneakers, entered the placewhere she lives, Koko immediately folded him in her long,black arms, as though he were a child, and then.

9 "Shetook my shoes off, Tom," Mister Rogers - Continue Reading BelowYou were a child once, too. That's whatMister Rogers said, that's what he wrotedown, once upon a was much bigger than Mister Rogers. She weighed280 pounds, and Mister Rogers weighed 143. Koko weighed280 pounds because she is a gorilla, and Mister Rogersweighed 143 pounds because he has weighed 143 poundsas long as he has been Mister Rogers, because once upon atime, around thirty-one years ago, Mister Rogers steppedon a scale, and the scale told him that Mister Rogers weighs143 pounds. No, not that he weighed 143 pounds, but thathe weighs 143 And so, every day, Mister Rogersrefuses to do anything that would make his weight change he neither drinks, nor smokes, nor eats flesh of any kind,nor goes to bed late at night, nor sleeps late in the morning,nor even watches television and every morning, when heswims, he steps on a scale in his bathing suit and hisbathing cap and his goggles, and the scale tells him that heweighs 143 pounds.

10 This has happened so many times thatMister Rogers has come to see that number as a gift , as adestiny fulfilled, because, as he says, "the number 143means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and fourletters to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you.' Onehundred and forty-three. 'I love you.' Isn't that wonderful?"BettmannGetty ImagesAdvertisement - Continue Reading BelowThe first time I called Mister Rogers on the telephone, Iwoke him up from his nap. He takes a nap every day in thelate afternoon just as he wakes up every morning at five-thirty to read and study and write and pray for the legionswho have requested his prayers; just as he goes to bed atnine-thirty at night and sleeps eight hours withoutinterruption.