Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers - Book Notes

 A couple weeks ago, I read a book by Fred Rogers that I enjoyed. There were many quotes and ideas in it that resonated with me. Mr. Rogers wrote another book, Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers, that I found equally interesting. 

Below are some notes and quotes from the book:

- Each person in the world is a unique human being, and each has unique human potential. One of the important tasks of growing is the discovery of this uniqueness: the discovery of "who I am" in each of us - of "who I am" in relation to all those whom I meet.

- If we're really honest with ourselves, there are probably times when we think, "What possible use can I be in this world? What need is there for somebody like me to fill?" That's one of the deeper mysteries. Then God's grace comes to us in the form of another person who tells us we have been of help, and what a blessing that is. 

- You are a very special person. There is only one like you in the whole world. There's never been anyone exactly like you before and there never will be again. Only you. And people can like you exactly as you are.

- You're much more than your job description or your age or your income or your output.

- It's very important, no matter what you may do professionally, to keep alive some of the healthy interests of your youth. 

- There's often a tendency for us to hurry through transitions. We may feel that these transitions are "nowhere at all" compared to what's gone before or what we anticipate is next to come. But you are somewhere...you're "between."

- It's my belief that the capacity to accept help is inseparable from the capacity to give help when our turn comes to be strong.

- Sometimes it helps me to get away from the work - by taking a walk, sitting in a quiet room, listening to music, or talking with a friend. Sometimes I just go over to the piano and play out my feelings through music. That kind of break seems to nourish me, and I can come back renewed. 

- Try your best to make goodness attractive. That's one of the toughest assignments you'll ever be given. 

- We don't always succeed in what we try - certainly not by the world's standards - but I think you'll find it's the willingness to keep trying that matters most. 

- You can't be a winner all the time.

- I trust that you'll look back over your journey and recognize the blessings - great and small - which helped to carry you through, and also realize how other people shared their truth and their light with you and made the trip less lonely. 

   You know, none of us gets to be competent, mature people without the help of others. By now you've discovered that you don't have to go it alone. In fact, no one gets to be a graduate without the investment of other people - people who have loved you all along the way.

   During this extra-special time, I'd like to give you a minute to think of those who have believed in you...those you have helped you live your life knowing what was good and real. A minute of silence for all of us to remember those who have cared about us through our lives - people who have made a significant difference in our being who we are right now. One minute of silence. 

   Whomever you've been thinking about, whether they're here or far away or even in heaven, imagine how pleased they'd be to know that you recognize what a difference they've made in your becoming. 

- May you seek out your own continuing life education and, over time, over your whole lifetime, may you grow in faith and reverence, uprightness in morals, knowledge of language and arts, forgiveness, honesty, commitment, maturity, and your capacity to love. 

- My hope for you at the beginning of this new moment in your life is that you will take good care of that part of you where your best dreams come from, that invisible part of you that allows you to look on yourself and your neighbor with delight. Do your best to appreciate the gifts that you really are and always will be...to look for every opportunity that allows you to clap and cheer, loving your neighbor as yourself. 

- In the acknowledgments of Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers, there's a statement, "Fred's pioneering spirit calls on us to forge ahead and blaze new trails, much as he did in his lifetime."