Fred Rogers, American Hero

You can have your John Wayne, your Rocky, and your John Glenn. For some folks, the heroism of Fred Rogers will last far longer and have greater impact than those typically American heroes. Mr. Rogers is about to retire from his PBS broadcast career to concentrate, he says, on the Internet.

This is typical of the soft-spoken man with a mission; to present children with a sense of themselves in a very scary world. For over thirty years, he has plied his subtle trade; an electronic babysitter with a message of kindness. Recent features on this human being have revealed his full participation in "Mr. Rogers Neighborhood" over the years. More than host, he was writer of song and dialogue, puppeteer, producer and promoter. We have again seen him pitching PBS to a Senate committee, transitioning from black-and-white broadcast youth to the snow-capped wisdom of age in full color.

It is said that Mr. Rogers had a Master Plan. It was to record a series of shows with subject material in view of a full notion of giving children a view of the world as full and complete as his vision. That being done, the Master turns to the new medium.

Say what you will. His niche was carved out of an era resplendent with commercial children's programming. Rogers never sold out his show or his audience with any commercial endorsement. He has survived and thrived over shows as diverse as Captain Kangaroo and Bozo. And he continues.

Tens of thousands of his audience will agree that television is less without Fred Rogers. He presented the exception that proved the rule [regarding my opinion of PBS as well as other common prejudices]. He was a uniquely American phenomenon that lasted through crisis on the world stage. We can only thank him for the effort and hope that same success transfers into cyberspace.

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