Let's go back to our neighborhood. by Cayce McCarthy

https://www.polygon.com/2017/5/15/15641348/twitch-mister-rogers-neighborhood-marathon-streaming

     Hey Femm readers. You know there have been so many tragic events lately. We’ve just recently lost Stephen Hawking; there’s been the Parkland shooting, political parties are still fighting, the list goes on and on. Because of the grief and pain that many are still facing each day and to begin the healing process, a new documentary is premiering on June 8th. This film is about a man who taught us as children about love, kindness, sadness, and even anger; he taught us that during tough times no matter what we are feeling that we should support and encourage each other.
​     This man was Mr. Rogers. Focus Features just released the trailer for the documentary, Won’t You Be My Neighbor, that focuses on the life of Fred Rogers and his TV show Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood. In the trailer, some of the characters from the show and the producers give a commentary about Fred and his topics/messages he covered. He had a week on death.  He discussed Kennedy’s assassination; he discussed the realities and harshness of divorce, and he dealt with racial issues that he witnessed and had experienced as well. People saw these as radical ideas to teach kids, and at the time they were, but Rogers had always cared about what kids saw on TV and how they would react to it.

https://www.buzzfeed.com/delaneystrunk/17-mister-roger-quotes-the-world-really-needs-right-now

     Rogers always felt that during demanding times, kids should feel safe in their own neighborhood and see it as a support system for all. He believed love was the root of everything, the root of learning, the root of relationships, of love, or the lack of it. This isn’t included in the trailer, but at one-time budgeting for public television was going to be cut and Rogers went to the Supreme Court to explain the importance of his show and why the budget for it shouldn’t be cut. He won over the court in just six minutes and the year after, the government worked hard to grow the budget and expand public television programs.
     Mr. Rogers was a part of most of our childhood. He was a nice soft-spoken man with a kind and gentle voice. He had a wonderful smile and he was like everyone’s grandfather. People have taken a lot of life lessons from watching his show. And in a time where we have a lot of political unrest, mass shootings, and death, we should be re-focusing on those lessons and pass on what we learned to future generations. This film looks wonderful, and I hope it will bring comfort to people and remind people of how love is more powerful than hate.  When facing challenges, it’s better to come together as neighbors instead of tearing each other apart.  That’s all for this post. I’ll leave a link down below to the trailer. ‘til next time.
https://youtu.be/FhwktRDG_aQ
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