It’s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood
This coming weekend is the premiere of “A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood,” a movie starring Tom Hanks about the real life of Fred Rogers. If you are like me you grew up with “Mr. Rogers Neighborhood”…a show that was very impactful to not only me but an entire generation of people.
A few days ago I had an idea pop into my head about what I was going to write for an article this week. I was really excited about it but I forgot to write it down! So yes, it is lost forever. But thankfully today a simple lunch with my wife gave me the opportunity to write about what makes for a beautiful day.
I try to eat lunch with my wife every Monday, which we have been doing since we started dating over 22 years ago. I got the idea from a former mentor of mine, Dr. Dowell Flatt, who used to give his wife something every Monday because he said Monday was their anniversary. I thought that was pretty good stuff and somewhat romantic, and maybe if I were a thoughtful husband I might learn to do something like that. So we have had many lunches on Mondays over the years.
Today (I’m writing this on Monday) I brought my wife chicken pot pie to her classroom – which she likes, and, in my order, I was supposed to have green beans substituted for mashed potatoes. But they forgot. So I decided to return to the restaurant on the way back to work and swap the mashed potatoes for the green beans as originally ordered. When I went inside carrying the mistake with me I walked up to the counter and tried to be as kind with my words as I possibly could. I didn’t want to make them feel bad for the mistake and I was confident that they would fix it. The lady at the counter was surprised by my demeanor. I could tell she was used to people being harsh or complaining or maybe even demanding. In response to my attitude, she was even kinder to me and incredibly apologetic. I let her know that it was nothing to worry about and I thanked her for serving me. We both ended the conversation with a great feeling.
Leaving the restaurant I was walking across the parking lot to my car. Just then a man in a black corvette saw me walking and instead of letting me by, he revved his engine, sped around me nearly hitting me, and flicked what was left of a used cigarette onto my shirt. Outside of my heart racing for a minute from almost being run over I was not upset. I had just enjoyed a really nice conversation with the lady at the counter who was so helpful. I was not going to let the next incident that was less pleasant ruin what was turning into a beautiful day.
Fred Rogers believed that the key to success in life is kindness. Therefore he absolutely and in every circumstance employed it. For sure it is kindness that is the key to a beautiful day in the neighborhood. We all get to choose what attitude we want to have. We all can decide to be kind. Kindness is one of the fruits of the Spirit, and you will see it listed in the Biblical record in nearly every set of commandments that suggest the Christian lifestyle. One of the main characteristics of Jesus was kindness. In the book of Titus, we read that God’s response to our hatefulness was the kindness of Christ’s coming to the earth.
One specific area in which we especially need to work on our kindness is in our behavior towards the people who we depend on the most. It is really not that difficult to be kind to a random lady at the counter. We don’t live with that person. We don’t expect much from them. We can let the little things go. Ironically the people we are the least kind to are often our spouses, or our friends, or maybe our co-workers or classmates or fellow Christians. What if we were to lower our expectations of others and raise the expectations we have for ourselves? I think this would lead us to becoming more like Jesus. I think this would lead us to kindness. I think this would lead us to more beautiful days in the neighborhood.
“For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. But when the kindness and the love of God our Savior toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit” – Titus 3:3-5
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AUTHOR: Jeremiah Tatum
