【Secret Confessions (2025) Spongkey Episode 44】

Won't You Be My Neighbor?Secret Confessions (2025) Spongkey Episode 44, the recently released Mister Rogers biopic, has everyone weeping with a nostalgic, foreign emotion: joy.

Between the #MeToo movement and a president who plucks babies away from their parents, it's hard to think of men in contemporary public life who inspire admiration. Twenty years ago, Mister Rogers commanded so much more than that. He helped children andthe adults watching his show navigate the traumas of human life and experience gratitude for life's everyday blessings.

We don't have Mister Rogers with us today, but we do have his quotes and clips to guide us through tough times.

Be forewarned: The following quotes may trigger feelings of deep hope and love for humanity.

1. On our role as human beings

"As human beings, our job in life is to help people realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is, that each of us has something that no one else has – or ever will have – something inside that is unique to all time."

Source: Rogers' Wisdom From The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

2. On unavoidable suffering

"There is no normal life that is free of pain. It's the very wrestling with our problems that can be the impetus for our growth."

Source:Rogers' You Are Special: Words of Wisdom for All Ages from a Beloved Neighbor

3. On being proud of yourself

"I hope you're proud of yourself for the times you've said 'yes,' when all it meant was extra work for you and was seemingly helpful only to somebody else."

Source: Wisdom From The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

4. On what matters

"It's not the honors and the prizes and the fancy outsides of life which ultimately nourish our souls. It's the knowing that we can be trusted, that we never have to fear the truth, that the bedrock of our very being is good stuff. That's what makes growing humanity the most potentially glorious enterprise on earth."

Source: Rogers' 2001 commencement address at Middlebury College

5. On strength

"It takes strength to acknowledge our anger, and sometimes more strength yet to curb the aggressive urges anger may bring and to channel them into nonviolent outlets."

Source: Rogers' Wisdom From The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

6. On real heroes

"When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes, flew through the air, or picked up buildings with one arm. They were spectacular and got a lot of attention. But as I grew, my heroes changed, so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child is a hero to me."

Source: Rogers' Wisdom From The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

7. On your big feelings

"There's no 'should' or 'should not' when it comes to having feelings. They're part of who we are and their origins are beyond our control."

Source: Rogers' Wisdom From The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

8. On history

"The really important 'great' things are never center stage of life's dramas; they're always 'in the wings.' That's why it's so essential for us to be mindful of the humble and the deep rather than the flashy and the superficial."

Source: Rogers' Wisdom From The World According to Mister Rogers: Important Things to Remember

9. On scary things in the news

"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.'"

Source: Interview with Karen Herman, Archive for American Television

10. On having children

"Please think of the children first. If you ever have anything to do with their entertainment, their food, their toys, their custody, their childcare, their health care, their education – listen to the children, learn about them, learn from them. Think of the children first."

Source: Rogers' Thoughts for All Ages

11. On invisible gifts

"When I say it's you I like, I'm talking about that part of you that knows that life is far more than anything you can ever see or hear or touch. That deep part of you that allows you to stand for those things without which humankind cannot survive. Love that conquers hate, peace that rises triumphant over war, and justice that proves more powerful than greed."

Source: Rogers' 2002 commencement address at Dartmouth College

12. On our values

"It's our insides that make us who we are, that allow us to dream and wonder and feel for others. That's what's essential. That's what will always make the biggest difference in our world."

Source: Rogers' 2001 commencement address at Middlebury College

13. On acceptance

“Love isn't a state of perfect caring. It is an active noun like 'struggle.' To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now – and to go on caring even through times that may bring us pain."

Source: Rogers' Thoughts for all Ages

14. On kindness

"There are three ways to ultimate success. The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind."

Source: Rogers' Life's Journeys According to Mister Rogers: Things to Remember Along the Way

15. On you

"I hope that you'll remember/ Even when you're feeling blue/ That it's you I like/ It's you yourself/ It's you, it's you I like."

Source: Rogers' "It's You I Like"

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