Mister Rogers: Evangelist for the Imago Dei

As I was flying back from the University of Notre Dame this past weekend, I was blessed with the opportunity to watch the Mister Rogers documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor? I fondly remember watching Mister Rogers’s Neighborhood as a child, but I did not realize at the time what a trailblazer Fred Rogers was in developing holistic television programming for children. When I watched the show as a child, I remember seeing a man who was not only well-dressed (cardigans for the win), but one who was intentionally kind and personal. When he asked, “Won’t you be my neighbor,” I felt that he was talking directly to me, and the documentary affirms that this was the experience of many viewers, old and young. Mister Rogers showed how it was possible to have a real, meaningful relationship with children without gimmicks by simply being oneself.

One of the most moving parts of the documentary for me was when Mister Rogers had invited Jeff Erlanger, a 10 year old bound to an electric wheelchair, to the show. Together, they sang one of Rogers’s most beloved compositions, “It’s You I Like.” The lyrics are as follows:

It's you I like,

It's not the things you wear,

It's not the way you do your hair

But it's you I like

The way you are right now,

The way down deep inside you

Not the things that hide you,

Not your toys

They're just beside you.

But it's you I like

Every part of you.

Your skin, your eyes, your feelings

Whether old or new.

I hope that you'll remember

Even when you're feeling blue

That it's you I like,

It's you yourself

It's you.

It's you I like.

Although Erlanger appeared on the show to talk about his experience of being paralyzed, having spinal surgery and being in an electric wheelchair, Rogers emphasized how underneath all of those appearances, it was Erlanger himself whom Rogers liked and considered a friend.

Related to songs such as “It’s You I Like” and other expressions Rogers used to stress the uniqueness of every child, I was surprised to learn that some commentators have accused Rogers of contributing to an entitled generation of people, specifically the Millenials. In an episode of 60 Minutes describing Millenials in the workplace, host Morley Safer said that Millenials had “doting parents who told them they were special, played little league with no losers or winners, and were laden with trophies just for participating.” I think there is some merit to this critique, especially regarding the point about having no winners or losers and an overabundance of participation trophies. Indeed, eliminating any sense of difference in achievement can have a negative impact on child development. If I receive as many accolades for sitting on the bench as the player that scored the most points, that makes it seem as if that game is not worth doing in the first place.

Although it is legitimate and necessary to criticize entitled tendencies in ourselves and the culture, I think that Mister Rogers’s point was a much deeper anthropological and, dare I say, theological reality that undercuts a cultural emphasis on personal value evidenced through achievement and success. As a Presbyterian minister, Mister Rogers was deeply influenced by the traditional Christian anthropological conviction that human beings are made in the “image and likeness” of God (cf. Genesis 1:26), and it is through this lens that I think we should understand his overall project. This point was also made in the documentary; here I would just like to elaborate a bit more and highlight this as the center of Mister Rogers's work.

Unlike the myths of the ancient Near East, the authors of Genesis 1 and 2 affirm that human beings are not the byproduct of divine conflict or slaves created simply to appease the gods. Rather, human beings are loved into existence by God the Creator and sustained by His continued care. Moreover, they are made in His “image and likeness,” which confers on human beings a special dignity unique among creation. From the child growing in the womb to the mentally disabled homeless person to the extremely frail elderly person, this unique dignity is shared by all human beings, irrespective of their capabilities or personal achievements. It is this divine image and likeness which indeed makes each person “likeable,” even “loveable” in God’s eyes. God loves us not because we have merits apart from Him, since “while we were yet sinners Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Rather, God loves us because He is good and has created us good in His own image and likeness. He invites us to love each other by recognizing His image in the other person, whether that person is amicable to us or not.

Mister Rogers, in his personally charming and gentle way, embodied this higher way of trying to see the image of God in every person and treating them with deep respect and care because of this deep conviction. In a world where the dignity of the human person is continuously violated and where it is increasingly easy to demonize and dehumanize those who disagree with us, Rogers’s example is one well worth imitating.