The sweatered crusader

On March 20, I'm wearing a sweater. There seems to be an unwritten expectation at Campbell University that school administrators and divinity school professors must wear suits and ties every day, but on March 20, I'm wearing a sweater -- even if the weather turns off warm.

The sweater is in memory of Fred Rogers, the famous "Mr. Rogers" of Public Television fame, a man who became both friend and "Fred" to me and to Jan in the years following our daughter Bethany's death in 1994, and preceding his own untimely demise in 2003.

March 20, 2008 would have been Mr. Rogers' 80th birthday, so the folks at Family Communications, the production company and children's resource center he started, thought it would be a good idea to encourage others to wear a sweater on March 20 to honor not just Mr. Rogers, but the deep values of kindness and courage that he demonstrated. I think it's a grand idea, too. You can hear David Newell, who played "Speedy Delivery" man Mr. McFeely on Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood and is public relations director for Family Communications, put in a plug for the day here.

Heroes come in many varieties. When I was a boy, my heroes were astronauts. When I was in seminary, some of my professors became like heroes to me. As my children grew in the middle of this mixed up world, however, I came to admire Fred Rogers as a man who had impeccable priorities and an unfailing love for all the children of the world. I made a habit of watching his program with my children as often as I could, and even before he extended personal friendship to my family, I began to think of him as a model worth emulating, as a hero who wore a sweater rather than a cape.

On March 20, I'm wearing a sweater. I hope you will, too.