Updated June 3rd, 2025

Kindness 101 – Won’t You Be My Neighbour Documentary Hits Home

“I like you as you are…I think you turned out nicely.”

– Lyrics from Mr. Rogers song

Have you seen the 2018 documentary about Mr. Rogers?

If not, I highly recommend it. Shortly after it came out, my niece, Emily (age 20 at the time), and I watched Won’t You Be My Neighbour not once but twice in one weekend!

Emily is an Early Childhood Educator, so it makes sense she would be interested. As for me…well, I watched it the first time because Emily wanted to see it. I watched it the second time (and took notes) because I couldn’t believe how profoundly impacted I was by the now-deceased host of a slow-paced and seemingly simple children’s TV show (that ran from 1968 to 2001)!

And here’s the even weirder thing: I didn’t even watch Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood growing up! I don’t know why. I guess the show never really clicked with me. I preferred Mr. Dressup, Casey, Finnegan and the gang.

At any rate, I’m hoping that what I missed out on by not watching Mister Rogers as a kid, I have now somewhat made up for having watched the documentary…twice.

If I had to use a single word to describe the message that Fred Rogers was most passionate about trying to communicate in his show, it would be kindness.

Acceptance, tolerance, compassion and unconditional love would all follow close behind.

There is a great line in the documentary by one of the many people interviewed (who knew Fred personally or professionally) that sums up what Mr. Rogers stood for:

“Fred’s theology was to love your neighbor and yourself.”

Simple, yes. Easy, no. I once spent seven years of my life despising my noisy neighbors. What a waste of precious time and energy! If I couldn’t have figured out how to love and accept my neighbours, then I should have sold the damn place – even at a loss – and moved on with my life.

Here are some sage snippets by Fred himself, pulled from the film:

“The space between the TV screen and the person receiving the message…I consider that very holy ground.”

“You’ve made this day a special day just by being you.”

“What do you do with the mad you feel…when you feel so mad that you could bite?”

“I think silence is one of the greatest gifts that we have.”

“Sometimes we need to struggle with tragedy to feel the gravity of love. Love is what keeps us together and afloat.”

“You don’t ever have to do anything sensational for people to love you.”

“No matter what your particular job, especially in our world today, we all are repairers of creation…thank you for whatever you do.”

Even though I am not a parent myself, this comment really hit home:

“I’ll tell you what children need. They need adults who will protect them from the ever-ready molders of our world.”

As you may know, there is also a 2019 feature film about Mr Rogers entitled, A Beautiful Day in the Neighbourhood, starring Tom Hanks. I can’t believe I haven’t watched it yet…but I will!

“There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”

– Fred Rogers

Maryanne Pope is the author of “A Widow’s Awakening.” She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of Pink Gazelle Productions and Co-Founder of the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund. To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please subscribe here. And be sure to visit our PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop.