THE PASSING OF A GREAT MAN

I'm sure Fred Rogers would not have called himself a great man. He probably would have referred to himself as just an average guy. A father, a minister, a neighbor.

Regretfully our number one neighbor has moved on.

Fred Rogers died yesterday at the age of 74.

For me Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood is the anchor to my turbulent memories of childhood. No matter how much trouble I got myself into, or how much the world beat me down, my memories of early childhood are always rooted in a firm sense of wonder and joy at the thought of the hours I spent with Fred.

He lived in the ideal world. A lovely little neighborhood, with friendly people and interesting places. And that was just the stuff in the real world.

His neighborhood also included the wonders of imagination, with King Friday and Trolley I always found myself wisked away to a magical place of wonder and merriment.

Fred never changed his show, no matter what happened in the world he stood true to his simple premise: Respect and truth. No matter what background you come from his message was easy to understand and worth listening to.

The world is a bit lessened with his passing. But it's blessed that he was here with us for so long.

I hope they get to putting Mr. Rogers on DVD. He's the man I want my kids to grow up with on the T.V. And if they can't, then my kids have truly missed out on something special.