{"id":687,"date":"2019-11-21T06:48:09","date_gmt":"2019-11-21T12:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/?p=687"},"modified":"2019-11-21T06:51:01","modified_gmt":"2019-11-21T12:51:01","slug":"please-wont-you-be-my-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/?p=687","title":{"rendered":"Please, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cThere are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.\u201d \u2013 Mr. Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do you remember childhood television, before the days of\nschool and stress?  In the 70s, my days\nwere simple. We lived on a big piece of property out in the country and so my\nhours were spent playing outside with my dog, gardening with my mom, being\ncreative, living in a world of make-believe, and running around without any fears.  My constant companion through these early\ndays was Mr. Rogers.  The soft-spoken PBS\nhost welcomed me each day into a magical world that looked surprisingly like\nmine.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Daily he would sing how he is glad that I\u2019m in his life.\nThat I\u2019m special. That I\u2019m worth listening to. That I am a person of value. He\nwould answer my questions.  He modeled\nhow to live, sharing how we should strive to be kind and to see the best in\neach other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think we need this message now more than ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you could only sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet; how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.\u201d \u2013 Mr. Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The day after I saw It\u2019s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood<\/em><\/strong>, another prominent pastor had just committed suicide. \u00a0Daily since then, politicians have been arguing. People are talking over each other instead of listening to each other.\u00a0 Statistics say that we are lonelier now that we have ever been in the past.\u00a0 Every morning my phone has news of shootings and violence.\u00a0 We fear our neighbors so we stay behind our closed doors and fences.\u00a0 Ring cameras keep people from our porches. Smartphones keep us from speaking to each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But Mr. Rogers opened a world where conversation was key.\nWhere people and puppets modeled how we should communicate with each other. We\ncelebrated each other\u2019s differences and the neighborhood was built on\ncharacters on intentionality: listening, learning, and inspiring each other to\nbe the best, kindest people we could be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen we love a person, we accept him or her exactly as is: the lovely with the unlovely, the strong with the fearful, the true mixed in with the fa\u00e7ade, and of course, the only way we can do it is by accepting ourselves that way.\u201d \u2013 Mr. Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the new film It\u2019s A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood <\/em><\/strong>reminds us of the messages we may have forgotten from our childhood.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beautiful Day<\/em><\/strong> is on the true friendship between Tom Junod and Mr. Rogers, which was formed in a most unlikely way, and is chronicled in the 1998 Esquire article \u201cCan You Say Hero?\u201d.\u00a0 (you can read the full article here – https:\/\/www.esquire.com\/entertainment\/tv\/a27134\/can-you-say-hero-esq1198\/<\/a>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The film opens with journalist Lloyd Vogel getting a black\neye. He is known for scandal, for scathing reviews and articles \u2013 and because\nof this, people are often understandably hesitant to work with him.  He has a new baby, and life is stressful.\nHe\u2019s adjusting to fatherhood. He\u2019s trying to silence inner demons. And nothing\ncomes easy in the world of freelance writing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His boss throws him a bone. Esquire is doing an issue on\nheroes \u2013 and he is to cover Mr. Rogers.  A simple, short, 400-word assignment. He\ndiscovers that out of 100 people being profiled, only Mr. Rogers said \u2018ok\u2019 to Vogel\nwriting their profile.  Skeptical and reluctant\nto do the story, but needing the work, Vogel travels to Pittsburg to meet the\nman, and an unlikely relationship is born. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I\u2019ll leave the storyline there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cListening is where love begins: listening to ourselves and then to our neighbors.\u201d \u2013 Mr. Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few things I do want to highlight. \u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One may question a feature film on such a quiet presence as Mr. Rogers, but be assured that Beautiful Day<\/em><\/strong> refuses to be cheesy or hokey or dumbed down. This is a film for adults. About adults. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hanks\u2019 portrayal of this treasured man is, that. A treasure. I had forgotten Mr. Roger\u2019s soft voice. His calm tone. The pace of his cadence. His simple puppets. His routine of kindness. He was a deliberate man, and Hanks’s ability to harness his kind intensity is noteworthy.\u00a0 Watching Hanks was nearly a challenge \u2013 as watching someone\u2019s quiet care for others at first was hard to watch. My life is filled with noise, speed, fast talkers, loud talkers. Mr. Rogers invited anyone in his presence to take a deep breath and, for a moment, just be.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also \u2013 the performances by Matthew Rhys and Chris Cooper are\nto be lauded as well.  Rhys\u2019 simple yet\nintense examination of a broken and hurting man, and Cooper\u2019s man searching for\nforgiveness are quiet revelations in their own right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s now been several months since I watched It’s\na Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood<\/em><\/strong>, and it\u2019s a film I just can\u2019t\nshake.  It\u2019s remembering what a small\ndose of kindness can do to the world. When we look at someone in the eye. When\nwe ask \u201chow are you?\u201d and actually listen for an answer. When we send a thank\nyou note, or think to share a moment. When we don\u2019t speak down to anyone\nbecause of their job, position, or age. We can unknowingly change a person\u2019s\nday, or life, by simply being kind.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We need a good dose of Mr. Roger\u2019s in the world today. I\nhope It’s\na Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood <\/em><\/strong>becomes a catalyst for people to\nlook around, smile, and remember what it\u2019s like to be a child again.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u201cImagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.\u201d – Mr. Rogers<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In writing this, I just realized that 2 new families have moved on my block, and I haven\u2019t been over to say hello. Perhaps the best way I can greet them is to put on a red sweater, put on my outside shoes, and say hello.\u00a0 I may be the one bright smile they see today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cThere are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.\u201d \u2013 Mr. Rogers Do you remember childhood television, before the days of school and stress?  In the 70s, my days were simple. We lived on a big […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":688,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[219,39,283,52],"tags":[602,603,295,601,598,604,599,600],"class_list":["post-687","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movies","category-quote","category-reviews","category-thoughts","tag-childhood","tag-friendship","tag-love-your-neighbor","tag-matthew-rhys","tag-mr-rogers","tag-neighbor","tag-pbs","tag-tom-hanks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8fdt8-b5","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wandertruenorth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/image2.jpg?fit=1000%2C667&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=687"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":692,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/687\/revisions\/692"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=687"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=687"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wandertruenorth.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=687"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}