Here is a link to the commencement speech he made at Dartmouth college last year, I think it does an excellent job of summing up precisely what kind of man Fred Rogers was.
And to think, students there were
protesting him being chosen to give the speech that year. Apparently the more protest-hungry wanted a well-known civil-rights protestor to be the one giving the speech, while some others just wanted someone 'cooler'.
Reading his speech struck me hard, it put into perfect clarity that his real gift was a genius for imparting higher concepts and moralities in deceptively simple ways. I'm fairly certain that, had I pestered him with a letter asking for advice in leading a good life, he would have given me advice that would have proven invaluable. And now I won't have the chance. It's like being some poor sucker who had something he meant to ask Jesus, but decided to put it off just one weekend too long.[/url]