What Would Mr. Rogers Do?

For a hard-bitten journalist like Junod to come out with a story like this speaks to the power of Fred Rogers. And it makes me weep to think as a nation we've looked at Fred Rogers' message, deified it, and put it on the shelf to be brought out as a cudgel rather than used in kindness.

From the article:

"It isn’t that [Fred Rogers] is revered but not followed so much as he is revered because he is not followed—because remembering him as a nice man is easier than thinking of him as a demanding one. He spoke most clearly through his example, but our culture consoles itself with the simple fact that he once existed. There is no use asking further questions of him, only of ourselves. We know what Mister Rogers would do, but even now we don’t know what to do with the lessons of Mister Rogers."