{"id":723,"date":"2011-02-23T18:02:40","date_gmt":"2011-02-23T16:02:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=723"},"modified":"2015-04-21T12:51:17","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T10:51:17","slug":"the-best-neighbor-you-could-ask-for","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/the-best-neighbor-you-could-ask-for\/","title":{"rendered":"The best neighbor you could ask for"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eight years ago this Sunday, the child in us died, and we were all forced to grow up a little bit.<\/p>\n

That child was Fred Rogers \u2014 psychologist, musician, minister<\/span>, TV star. For 33 years, Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood<\/i><\/a> was the show that everyone in America watched when they were little.<\/p>\n

Rogers understood children like nobody else. He talked directly to the camera, imagining an individual and rather shy<\/span> child at the other end. He spoke like a child \u2014 slowly and in simple words. He also knew what children value most: to be listened to. Children were persons<\/i> to him.<\/p>\n

The name of the show said a lot. “Friends” were mentioned, but “neighbors” were almost more important. You don’t have to be friends with everybody around you, he seemed to say, but it’s important to be a good neighbor.<\/p>\n

The show cleverly connected the real world of adults with the fantasy world of children. Each of the nearly 900 episodes began with Rogers arriving home, singing “It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood” as he hung up his suit coat and put on a sweater and tennis shoes.<\/p>\n