Won’t You Be My Neighbor (2018)

“Love is at the root of everything, all learning, all relationships. Love — or the lack of it.”

-Fred Rogers

I blind bought this. If you know me, then you’re aware how safe of a purchase it was. But to be honest, I was expecting a documentary that would reveal to me what I already knew — that Mr. Rogers was a kind, empathetic person both onscreen and off. Which is true, obviously.

But I had been thinking of him as a character for so long that I never stopped to consider Fred Rogers the human being — a man who constantly struggled with self-doubt over his work and who fought so tirelessly for the goodness of humanity because he was tired of living in a senseless, violent world. Seeing Mr. Rogers worried made me terrified, because deep down I assumed he always knew everything. I had this unspoken idea that once I became successful, or put-together, or smart enough, I would finally feel like I knew what I was doing too.

But if someone I think of as a hero also struggled with anxiety and self-doubt, and managed to change lives anyway, then maybe i’d be okay. Mr. Rogers’ most important lesson is that you don’t have to be perfect to be worthy of love — and it’s simple, he likes you just the way you are and you should too.

This documentary should be screened in schools across the world and pretty much every where in the universe. Nothing bad could come out of this amazing 2 hours.