Look for the helpers!
When Fred Rogers was a boy, he was a "sickly, chubby boy" whose classmates called him "fat Freddy" and chased him home from school, according to Maxwell King's new biography of Mister Rogers, The Good Neighbor.
His mother was well known around town for her extraordinary kindness and generosity, and was a model for Fred. "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me: 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping,' Rogers recalled. "To this day, especially in times of disaster, I remember my mother's words, and I am always comforted by realizing that there are still so many helpers – so many caring people in this world."
"The Joyful Noiseletter is packed with funny religious stories, plus a page of cartoons, that offer some of the choicest pickings for the pulpit, church bulletins, or dinner table fare."
— George W Cornell
Religious Editor, The Associated Press
Rogers was deeply religious, committed to his mother's Presbyterian faith, and later became an ordained Presbyterian minister. He also became a vegetarian. "I don't want to eat anything that has a mother," he explained.
A friend in Rogers' church said: "What would Christ be like? He would be like Fred. He would encourage you to do things that were right and would help other people."
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