Adults should stop fetishizing Mr. Rogers' "look for the helpers" line after every tragedy

The Atlantic

Every time tragedy strikes, the Fred Rogers line "look for the helpers" rears its head, either in video or meme form. The Today show was among those to bring it up again Saturday after the synagogue shooting that took place in Rogers' Pittsburgh neighborhood. "Fred Rogers has a saintlike legacy for good reason," says Ian Bogust. "He touched people of all backgrounds and faiths. He modeled goodness and character. But his was never a gospel for grown-ups. It was designed for children, and entrusted to adults to carry out with kids’ interests in mind. (His attempt at a show for adults failed.) We must stop fetishizing Rogers’s advice to 'look for the helpers' as if it had ever been meant for us, the people in charge—even in moments when so many of us feel powerless. As an adult, it feels good to remember how Mr. Rogers made you feel good as a child. But celebrating that feeling as adults takes away the wrong lesson. A selfish one. We were entrusted with these insights to make children’s lives better, not to comfort ourselves for having failed to fashion the adult world in which they must live."