Skip to main content

Just the Way You Are

In this episode - Just the Way You Are . . .

“Childhood lies at the very heart of who we are and who we become.” Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers)

What are you feeling this New Year 2021? Who are you? Do you feel hopeful, joyful, optimistic, or with the recent news events are you cynical, feeling scared, and ill-prepared for what’s to come?”

That’s OK, “I like you just the way you are.” - Mr. Rogers

“It’s a beautiful day in this neighborhood, A beautiful day for a neighbor . . .”

I’ll admit in 1969 whenever I heard that song I would jump up from the couch and change the channel on the television. In my kid world, there were more important things to watch on television . . . Batman, Superman, Gilligan’s Island, I Dream of Jeannie, Bonanza, The Rifleman, to name a few.

Watch Mr. Rogers Neighborhood, that’s a little kids show - “No way, I’m too old for that.” Huh, was I really?

However, until recently, while recording poems and stories for this Podcast I began to wonder, “What type of stories DO children like?”

Honestly, not having raised children myself, I had no idea. 

Stories in this turbulent world we live in are confusing to adults. I can only imagine what little children think. And how they are affected.

For example, “Breaking News” . . . the COVID pandemic has taken over 372,000 lives, protests continue to divide our nation. The President is lying. It’s everywhere, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, and of course television. The most powerful influencer.

Sadly, people only share stories of friends, classmates, and family that have died. Why? That’s demoralizing. And after the continued bombardment of such news, you simply lose any empathy (callused) you may have felt for those stories.

How do little children respond to all this? I’m sure they are scared and confused. Just as I was watching and listening to TV actors from the 1960s like Boris Karloff in the roles they portrayed.

So, I asked a neighbor, “What do your kids like, what do read to them?” To my amazement, this young family's favorite children's story on video was - “The Grinch.”

My first thought was . . . really? The Grinch? What a scary story. As a young child, the Grinch was a television animated feature that always frightened me. Why? Because of the terrifying voice of Boris Karloff. What a frighting man he was. He sounded evil.

You see, books were not something we had growing up. It was the profound impact of television that shaped my fears, my dreams, and my values.

Through Mr. Rogers though we learned that - “Feelings are our shared common ground.” When a loving parent or neighbor reads aloud to children, stories transport these children to the land of make-believe. This in turn creates a loving bond between the parent and their children.

We had never read the Dr. Seuss book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas. So, I did what I thought best, bought the book and began reading it into the microphone.

You may have heard the Podcast episode - The Grinch. 

Oh, what fun we had. It was pure delight, the fun of pretending to read to your child. The story was not scary at all. I discovered it was a story of redemption, hope, and pure joy!

So, as we move into this New Year I’m asking, “Please,  won’t you be my neighbor?” Let’s share the stories that have made a difference in your life for the better.

You will feel better, just the way you are.

If you enjoy our weekly visits, please share them with a friend.

This is Patrick Ball, thanks for listening. See you in the next episode.

Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
C6-5
January 9, 2021 at 12:14 PM
Post a Comment

Most Popular of All Time

When Fear Becomes the Default

In this special episode, When Fear Becomes the Default. Early Sunday morning, I was cycling past a small veterans’ pocket park in San Marcos. The air was still, the streets nearly empty. On one corner stood a young woman, alone, holding a hand-painted sign that read: “Be ANGRY. ICE agents are murdering people.” I pedaled past, but the words stayed with me. I knew the context—the footage and headlines from Minneapolis the day before, already ricocheting through the country and hardening opinions. Even in the quiet of the ride, the noise followed. Two miles later, I stopped at a red light. A black car with dark windows pulled up inches from my bike. My heart jumped. My first instinct wasn’t neighbor —it was threat . I found myself bracing, scanning, and wondering if the person inside was angry, armed, or looking for trouble. Then the door opened. A well-dressed young woman stepped out, walked to the trunk, and pulled out a sign that read “Open House.” She turned, smiled brightly, and sa...
2 comments
Read more

The Language of Home: Building a Sanctuary

This episode is  for anyone trying to find their footing in a new place—whether it’s a new city, a new job, or a new country. The light in Florence, Italy, has a way of making everything feel like a Renaissance painting—the golden hue on the stone, the steady rhythm of the Arno River, and the feeling that you are walking through a history much larger than yourself. I was there to give a presentation to a class of Gemology students. I was prepared to discuss color grading and refractive indices, but not to be outed as a language tutor . Feeling very much like a guest in a storied land, a hand shot up enthusiastically. "You’re the guy on the podcasts," the young woman said, her eyes bright with recognition. "You’re the one teaching us English." I laughed nervously. If you know my flat Midwestern accent, you know the irony here. I am hardly an Oxford professor. But later, as I wandered the cobblestone streets beneath the shadow of the Duomo, the humor faded into a powe...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sweden Called . . . They Said No.

Have you ever wondered about  the Nobel Prize? Let's look at Where Genius Meets “Wait—Where’s My Medal?” Every October, the Nobel Prizes are announced, and humanity pauses to celebrate the "greatest benefit to mankind." And every year, like clockwork, a specific type of person appears online to complain—at length—that they were robbed. (Well, maybe this year more than most.) The Origin: A Legacy of Guilt The prize exists because Alfred Nobel, a Swedish inventor, had a crisis of conscience. Nobel held 355 patents, but he was most famous for inventing dynamite. When a French newspaper mistakenly published his obituary, calling him the " Merchant of Death, " he decided to buy a better legacy. In his 1895 will, he left the bulk of his massive fortune to establish five prizes (Physics, Chemistry, Medicine, Literature, and Peace). Because he was Swedish, he entrusted the selection to Swedish institutions, such as the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The only outlier...
1 comment
Read more

Practiced Hands: The 50-Year Warranty

What Doc Burch Taught Me About Staying Active. We talk a lot about "life hacks" these days, but most of them don’t have a very long shelf life. Usually, they’re forgotten by the next app update. But back in 1972, I received a piece of advice that came with a 50-year warranty. It’s the reason I’m still on my bike today, still chasing a golf ball around Carlsbad, and still—mostly—in one piece. The Kick That Changed Everything It started with a literal kick in the pants. A kid at school in Cuba, Illinois, was joking around and caught me just right. By the next morning, my lower back was screaming. My mom didn’t reach for the Tylenol; she reached for her car keys. "Let’s go see Doc Burch," she said. "He’ll fix you right up." Harry E. Burch, D.C., was a fixture in Lewistown. He’d graduated from Palmer College in ’59 and had been our family’s go-to for years. He was a man of practiced hands and steady eyes. After a quick exam and an X-ray, the mood in the room s...
Post a Comment
Read more