We all have childhood idols.  For some of us it was a pop star, some sort of celebrity or perhaps, even your own parents.  Many years later, as we look back, how do you feel about your old idols?  Was idolizing them a good idea?  Did they stand the test of time? One that I think surely did was Fred Rogers of “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood”.  I’m not sure Mr. Rogers was entirely politically correct but it doesn’t matter.  He was awesome.  He encouraged kids to explore and use their imagination.

I think the key thing that I liked about Mr. Rogers was the fact that he never talked “down” to kids. Watching  Mr. Rogers on T.V. wasn’t like being lectured or told how to do things; it was more like hanging out with a really smart friend.

What brought this all to mind was little snippet I ran across on the internet that somebody posted on a newsgroup. How many TV stars do you know that would actually take the time to personally respond to a letter from a kid? This was the original post. Click on the picture to see Mr. Rogers response.