Judy McLain
Sep 7, 2018 · 2 min read

Great article, Shannon.

Mr. Rogers seemed to me to be all about empathy. There was a character on the old Star Trek series who was called an empath. She could feel the feelings of others to her own detriment. I think Fred got the empathy part right without having to suffer so greatly himself.

He was kind and gentle. I’ve watched Project Runway and Tim Gunn seems very much this way. A mentor who listens and even though his job is to give constructive critique, he always manages to stay kind, even when the designers were very challenging or mean spirited or even violent.

My daughter always preferred Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood to any other childhood programming. She is just a bit younger than you. She would sit in front of the TV so peacefully. He was a panacea for her little soul. He talked softly, he used words she could understand. His intent was goodness. Her little world was not complicated and neither was he. For her, the time his show was on was Zen.

He cemented the concepts that her father and I tried very much to instill in her. She was born with a birth injury and even from a very young age, when she was around other children this difference was noticed. Kids tried to make her feel bad about herself. Her Dad and I always tried to help her understand that this was a very small difference, big picture wise. And Fred Rogers was there to drive the message home. “It’s you I like.”

She is a person with a very healthy self-esteem these days. She also has mad empathy for others. I could not ask for anything more from a child of mine.

    Judy McLain

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    “The truth is humbling, terrifying, and often exhilarating. It blows the doors off the hinges and fills the world with fresh air.” — Augusten Burroughs