Portland is a cool town! I don’t think I could live here (the traffic in this state makes me crazy), but I sure did enjoy hanging out here to a few days. I needed a “normal” day yesterday, so I got a haircut and a manicure and saw the Mister Rogers documentary. The girl who cut my hair is going through a breakup and she’s been with the guy for four years and feels like her world is ending, and I told her I have been there and promised her it was going to be okay, and just kept telling her that. And maybe it sounds trite, but I shared a little of my story and PROMISED that she would be okay and that this was thee right decision. (She told me some stuff, and yeah, it was definitely the right choice to leave.) And when I left, she said that she felt like the reason I was there today was to give her that message, and that for the first time, she was feeling hopeful. It was one of those profoundly beautiful moments, and I’m still praying for sweet Kayla.
And Mister Rogers... holy cow, what a revolutionary he was! The very first episode of his show in 1968 was about Vietnam. Later that season came an episode about assassination. It was so interesting to learn about his career and his beliefs and hear these stories about him. Like how he used to tell Francois, the gay black guy on his show, “I love you just the way you are.” And one day Francois said, “I think you really mean that.” And he said, “Francois, I’ve been trying to tell you this for years. I’m glad you finally heard me.” And how he did things that were not considered good television... like the time he set a timer for one minute and just sat there so kids could see how long a minute is! When I was little, I remember feeling like his show went a little too slow, and that my dad said he was a sicko, and I felt like he was talking down to me. I wish I would have listened more. And I do remember that sometimes it just felt calming to watch him. Everything about that set felt so familiar to me, almost like it was a relative’s house. I loved it when he fed the fish.
Towards the end, they explained why Fred was always trying to make people see their worth and feel loved. Really, he just wanted them to know that they are beloved children of God. That God is using them to make all things new and restore a broken world. And when they brought theology and his faith into it... I don’t know, it got me all choked up. I mean, that’s kind of how I picture Jesus. Just loving everyone he meets, even though it doesn’t make sense. Even though some people are assholes. (And people in this documentary said that some of the kids he dealt with WERE assholes!) Fred Rogers was an amazing example of Christ-like love, while also being subversive and standing up against injustice (like that time he and Francois were both in the pool after there were news stories about black people getting kicked out of white people’s swimming pools).
And there’s this moment at the end when he asks you to take one whole minute and think about someone you loved very much who’d influenced your life... and then the documentary waited for that full minute, and I thought of my grandma and was feeling REALLY emotional at that point, and I know I wasn’t the only one because there was lots of sniffling in the theater.
Kind of crazy how this documentary could evoke so many emotions.
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