Must Watch: Garden of Your Mind - A Mr. Rogers Remix

PBS Digital Studios in collaboration with John D. Boswell, aka melodysheep on YouTube created this absolutely wonderful video titled, Garden of Your Mind.  It features, none other, than your favorite PBS hero, Mr. Rogers.

Thinking it would be a brilliant way to garner donations to your local PBS station, the video was remixed with the support of the Fred Rogers Company.  It has reached 2,852,941 views.  So if you like this video, please support your local PBS station.** http://www.pbs.org/donate

Thank you Sean Hodges for sharing this with me on Facebook.

A Neighborhood To Remember

You may remember me blogging about Mr. Rogers a week ago on his amazing speech to the Senate back in 1969.  Well, five years before he died he received an honorary Lifetime Achievement Award where he spoke from his heart as he always did.  

Mr. Rogers' unforgettable acceptance speech had everyone tearing by the end of the night.  And it's probably because he not only touched the audience members' lives in some way, but their children as well.  He definitely made a difference in mine and Ryan's lives, and nothing pleases me more than to blog about him.

Acceptance speech and video down below.

"So many people have helped me to come here to this night. Some of you are here, some are far away and some are even in Heaven. All of us have special ones who loved us into being. Would you just take, along with me, 10 seconds to think of the people who have helped you become who you are, those who cared about you and wanted what was best for you in life. 10 seconds, I'll watch the time. Whomever you've been thinking about, how pleased they must be to know the difference you feel they have made. You know they're kind of people television does well to offer our world. Special thanks to my family, my friends, and my co-workers in Public Broadcasting and Family Communications, and to this Academy for encouraging me, allowing me, all these years to be your neighbor. May God be with you. Thank you very much."

Must Watch: Mr. Rogers Amazing Speech to the Senate

Most of you know who Mr. Rogers is.  He is the famous television host of Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood that aired on PBS for 33 years. He wrote all the scripts, did all the puppets, and wrote all the music for his show.  

I remember my mother plotting me down in front of the television to watch this show, along with Sesame Street.  And you know what? I'm glad she did!  I hardly spoke any English at the age of 6 and 7, and I attribute these shows to helping me become a Spelling Bee contestant and winner as I went from grade to grade.  I had 12th grade spelling by the time I was in 5th or 6th.

Rogers, educated as a minister, was displeased with the way television was addressing children, and he made every effort to change this over his career, and he did.  During the Nixon Administration, the president wanted to cut funding to the Public Broadcasting Service, and Mr. Rogers was having none of it.

He went directly to the Senate offices in 1969 and spoke for 6 minutes of what was supposed to be a 20 minute speech, and got $20 million dollars for it.  One of the senators, Sen. John Pastore, a Democrat from Rhode Island (the same man who had led a crusade against the impropriety of commercial broadcast network TV content - wasn't exactly inclined to approve the funding.) went so far as to say,  "I'm supposed to a pretty tough guy, and this is the first time I've had goosebumps for the last 2 days."

The story only gets so much better, but you have to see the video to see, hear and feel what I'm talking about.  It's pretty darn emotional -- pretty darn amazing.  I love you, Mr. Rogers.  You have made a difference in my life, and I thank God for you.