I just finished "I'm Proud Of You" by Tim Madigan. Tim writes for the Star-Telegram here in Fort Worth and also happened to be a good friend of Fred Rogers a.k.a. Mister Rogers from Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. It was a touching story of true friendship. You find out Fred was a devote believer in loving people of all types. It made me cry at the end (of course) but I would recommend it to everyone. Tim talks a lot about his own struggles of depression and how Fred helped him through some really dark times. Two things that stand out are:
A story that Tim tells to Fred: Two men are walking towards each other on a shore. Between them are thousands of starfish that have been swept up to the land. The first man walks through them thinking what a shame it was that all these starfish will die. The second man is throwing one starfish at a time back into the ocean. The first man says " What does it matter if you throw these starfish back? There are thousands of them!" The second man proceeds to throw another starfish back and says "It matters to that one."
The second one, again of Tim. Tim's son, when he is five asks him why he never cries. Tim admits to the reader that he tries to bottle emotions. Sadness, joy, triumph, distress, he bottles it all. After that though, he begins praying that he will be able to really feel those emotions. Several years later, his son sings for the Christmas pageant at his church. Tim takes Patrick into a side room and with big tears in his eyes tells him how proud he is of him. Patrick says " Sometimes, life is so beautiful, you just have to cry."
There are lots of stories about Mister Rogers too. He was a great man. And I will definitely be buying his DVDs when I have kids of my own!
No comments:
Post a Comment