Mr. Rogers, one of the best ever

This is amazing. Tonight was the first time I have ever seen this video, and it brought tears to my eyes. In 1969, the Nixon administration (and congress) planned on slashing federal funding of PBS.

Fred Rogers appeared before the United States Senate Subcommittee on Communications to try to sway them from cutting the funding, which would have likely had dire consequences on his show. At this time his show was relatively small-time compared to what it would become, and way before “Mr. Rogers” became a household name.

This video is 7 minutes long, and Fred Rogers with true sincerity and compassion tells Senator Pastore what PBS is all about, and Pastore, who is ice-cold at the beginning of the video, is almost reduced to tears by the end and awards $20 million in funding to save PBS. A must watch if you have the time… or even if you don’t.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q

I think that true compassion like Fred Rogers had is very hard to find now-a-days. Budgets for education are cut so slim that many wonderful teachers being lost every day, billions and billions of dollars are being shuffled around to be spent policing the world, while education and children at home suffer the consequences of US Tax dollars being spent abroad.

President Bush would like to cut all federal funding for PBS by 2011 (source). Don’t let it happen.

What would Mr. Rogers do?