The initial inspiration for the movie,听A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, in which Tom Hanks plays Mr. Rogers, was Tom Junod鈥檚 article 鈥淐an You Say 鈥� Hero?鈥� which appeared in听Esquire听magazine in November 1998.
Writing in the November 2019 issue of听The Atlantic, Junod says the movie 鈥渟eems like a culmination of the gifts that Fred Rogers gave me and all of us, gifts that fit the definition of grace because they feel, at least in my case, undeserved.鈥漑1]
Although Webster鈥檚 defines grace as 鈥渦nmerited divine assistance given man for his regeneration or sanctification鈥� and Funk and Wagnells says it鈥檚 鈥淭he unmerited but freely given love and favor of God toward man,鈥� the term 鈥渦nmerited鈥� in these definitions seems to clang discordantly with other spiritual perspectives, e.g. Matthew 10:30, which tells us our 鈥渨orth鈥� is such that 鈥渆ven the hairs [on our heads] have all been counted.鈥澨齀鈥檇 suggest these definitions would be better without the word 鈥渦nmerited,鈥� which can be read to imply a certain diminishment that runs counter to the sense of beneficence and the extraordinary that often accompanies an experience of grace.
The American mystic David Spangler says that grace 鈥渕ay indeed flow to us in response to our worthiness, but we can鈥檛 make grace happen.听听It is a true gift.听听What is wonderful to me is that we, also, can be 鈥榞raceful.鈥櫶� We can give the gift of who we are back to God; in other words, we, too, can bestow grace, which in a way is an attribute of the unconditionality of love:听 I love God not for what God can do for me but because I am love and God is love and grace flows naturally to each other without being a requirement or a condition.鈥漑2]听听
In his 1978 bestseller听The Road Less Traveled, Dr. M. Scott Peck writes: 鈥渓et us redefine serendipity not as a gift itself but as a learned capacity to recognize and utilize the gifts of grace which are given to us from beyond the realm of our conscious will.听 With this capacity, we will find that our journey of spiritual growth is guided by the invisible hand and unimaginable wisdom of God with infinitely greater accuracy than that of which our unaided conscious will is capable.鈥漑3]
In a recent online article, 鈥淲hy We Turn to Mr. Rogers,鈥� Shea Tuttle emphasizes our worth and inherent value.听听While she refers to Mr. Rogers as 鈥淥ur Patron Saint of Kindness鈥� and notes that he is currently being celebrated for this quality in article after article, she points out that he 鈥渄idn鈥檛 talk much about kindness, even though he was modelling it constantly.鈥漑4]听听The message he stressed, she writes, is: 鈥淵ou are lovable.听听He didn鈥檛 usually say it quite like that.听听Instead, he said, 鈥業 like you just the way you are,鈥� or 鈥楾here鈥檚 only one person in the world like you,鈥� or 鈥榊ou鈥檝e made this day a special day for me by just your being you.鈥櫶鼳nd he sang it, too.听听鈥榊ou are my friends; you are special鈥� and 鈥業t鈥檚 you I like,鈥� and 鈥業 like you as you are.鈥欌�漑5]
Mr. Rogers, we are told in another article, 鈥渉ad to work at being good.鈥漑6]听听I鈥檓 pretty sure his service to others was motivated by a belief that they were deserving, and that he was, too.
Tuttle鈥檚 article comes to a couple of important conclusions.听听First, 鈥淲e are not afraid we will not be kind鈥�. We are afraid鈥攄esperately afraid鈥攖hat we are not lovable.鈥澨齋econd, Mr. Rogers spoke 鈥渢he truest truth.听听You are lovable.鈥漑7]
In her TED Talk, 鈥淏ecoming a Blessing,鈥� author and educator Dr. Rachel Naomi Remen proclaims that we all have the capacity to bless.[8]听听Mr. Rogers certainly brought an attitude of blessing and affirmation to what he did.听听And in doing this, in bestowing acceptance and connection, he was dispensing and continues to dispense, sixteen years after his death, grace to the deserving.
An author and historian, Patrick Wolfe has an abiding interest in grace and the mystic.听听More of his听writing can be found at . Author photo by .听
You can read more articles on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking
* This article was published in the print edition of the sa国际传媒 on Saturday, September 28th 2019
Photo of two children by听听辞苍听
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