Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood: Sprinkling Kindness in a Broken World
As I’ve been driving to and from work every day, I’ve noticed some hand-crafted signs in my neighborhood, propped up against stop signs and lamp posts alike.
Each sign is a genuine sign from above; a blessing in such a dark time. One sign reads: “Imagine what our neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person.” - Mr. Rogers
Another sign reads: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” - Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
And the last sign that’s propped up a stone’s throw away from my school reads this: “Kindness. Sprinkle that stuff everywhere!” - Anonymous.
Truly, imagine with me: what would our neighborhoods be like if we sprinkled kindness everywhere? If we heeded Mr. Rogers’ advice to be kind. He also said so profoundly: “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.”
Hoping for a world that is this way seems almost ridiculous, childish even. But truly, we need more people like Mr. Rogers who knew the true value in kindness and sprinkling that stuff everywhere, even in the wake of knowing and tasting darkness and the brokenness this world offers.
Even still, for those who are believers in Jesus, there is an incredible hope that supersedes anything kind or incredible this world has to offer too: in the end, we get to live forever. We have an eternal hope for resurrection, redemption, true and genuine healing, rest, and a sweet, sweet comfort inaugurated by this hope. And living forever, not just on this old, broken Earth. But on a new, redeemed one. (Check out my post about Heaven, to learn more about this New Earth!)
And so, in the in-between, the here and now: we wait with hope. We press on, sprinkling kindness everywhere. Painting a picture of Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood in our modern day nooks and crannies, homes, and meeting spaces.
Mr. Rogers truly was (and is) a legend. He knew Jesus, and his knowledge of and love for Jesus surely impacted his genuine kindness towards others. He once said as well that, “It always helps to have people we love beside us when we have to do difficult things in life." Especially in the wake of COVID, living through a global pandemic, and the plethora of other illnesses, ailments, frailties, and failures we face, this is so true.
Let’s press on, clinging to our Creator, leaning on our loved ones, and calling to mind kindness, which truly does change our neighborhoods for the better. And maybe, just maybe, every bit of kindness we sprinkle can begin to tend to the brokenness of our world, filling in its cracks and crevices, rebuilding it piece by piece, sprinkle by sprinkle, until it’s no longer broken, but whole, healed, redeemed. Isn’t that the world we all long for? Isn’t that the world we’ve all been waiting for? Now more than ever, let’s lean in, press on, and dig deep.
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” - Leo Buscaglia.
