It’s a Taurus new moon today and one of the keywords of Taurus is self-worth. When we have a solid sense of self-worth, we naturally respond to others with more compassion and kindness for we are not trying to gain our sense of self or power externally.
We recently watched ‘A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood’ – a 2019 American biographical drama film about Fred Rogers who wrote and fronted a children’s television show ‘Mr Roger’s Neighborhood’ which ran in the States from 1968 – 2001.
We had no idea what it was about, but we generally enjoy Tom Hanks’ movies so gave it a whirl.
I found the movie highly moving and inspiring. My personal take-aways were the value of:
- Listening. Really listening. Being fully present to that person
- Being your honest self. The world needs you and all you bring to the world
- And the power of caring and a compassion heart
In a world that appears to give more credence to celebrity status, looks, reality vs real, drama and horror, I found it astonishing that this series ran for more than thirty years.
As a society we pay lip service to being kind, yet I believe we barely rate kindness, honesty, compassion and being real – I mean really real; owning who you are, and being heart led , highly unless it is for appearances sake.
It is testament to the core values and integrity of Fred Rogers that the series spanned three decades. It was way back in 1969 that he appeared before the US Senate to preach the importance of heart-mind education and we still have a long way to go.
In a Vanity Fair article (yes the irony is not lost on me), Tom Hanks explained why he found Rogers a subject worth reexamining in 2019. “I think cynicism has become the default position for so much of daily structure and daily intercourse,” he said. “Why? Because it’s easy, and there’s good money to be made. It’s a great product to sell—cynicism.”1
I couldn’t agree more.
And furthermore, cynicism is easy – a lazy way to operate in the world. It takes effort to be be considerate, kind, compassionate and look for resolution that may require you compromise or change.
If only we all treated those smaller than us with kindness from a place of compassion, we would not have war, poverty or division because everyone would be cared for and included.
Fred Rogers was portrayed as an incredibly humble and quietly slowly spoken man. Watching him in his Induction into the TV Critic’s Hall of Fame, it appears to be a true portrayal.
In his thank you speech, he offers these gems:
- Fame is a four letter word.
And like tape, zoom, face, zoom, pain, life, or love, what ultimately matters is what you do with it. - I feel that those of us in television are chosen to be servants, to help meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen day and night.
- Life isn’t cheap. It is the greatest mystery of any millennium and TV needs to do all it can to broadcast that. To show and tell that the good in life is all about. I wish!
- (How do we do this?) To bring courage to those whose lives move near our own.
- To treating our neighbour at least as well as we treat ourselves. And to allow that to inform everything that we produce.
- We have the choice of encouraging others to demean this life or cherish it. In creative, imaginative ways.
And to finish he asked,
- Who in your life has been such a servant to you?
- Who has helped you love the good that grows within in you?
- Take 10secs to think of those people who have loved us and wanted what was best for us in life. Those who have encouraged us to become who we are tonight.
(Here’s the link to his address so you can view yourself. It’s a 6min view).
Inspired by the 1998 article “Can You Say … Hero?” by Tom Junod, published in Esquire, A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood gives me hope and maybe even proof that with compassionate, and beautiful hearts, a kinder, gentler world can be created.
With much love as we strengthen our self-worth, reclaim and relate from our compassionate, kind hearts full with the power of love.
