GREAT TEACHERS

Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers) (1928-2003) television personality and Presbyterian minister, wrote:

“My own friend and companion, when I was little and didn’t yet have a sister, was Mitzi, a brown, wire-haired mongrel. We played and had long ‘conversations’ during which she heard many of my secrets and shared my joys and my sadnesses. We ran in the fields and huddled together through thunderstorms. I gave a great deal of myself to Mitzi, and she faithfully reflected that self back to me, helping me learn more about who I was and, in those early days, what I was feeling. When she died, she went on teaching me… about loss and grief… and about the renewal of hope and joy.” (From: ‘The World According to Mr. Rogers’)

Anyone who has ever had a pet they really loved knows the content of what Mr. Rogers wrote. I think of all my dog conversations, practicing my teaching messages to my poor dogs, all the silence and warmth of just sitting together carefully listening together as we took long walks. They learned a great deal about me and I got to know them well (I speak conversational dog in several species).

Something that really grabbed me in Mr. Rogers comments was his reference to: ‘When she died, she went on teaching me… about loss and grief… and about the renewal of hope and joy.’ When my dogs have died… they have taught me more about loss and grief than any other deaths I have known. The renewal of hope and joy are still in process.

“There 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.” (Fred Rogers… Mr. Rogers)

“So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” Jesus