Happy birthday to Fred Rogers, everybody’s favorite neighbor. The Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood host, author, and educator would have been 88 today. Rogers believed in accepting others despite any differences, teaching by example, and making the world a better place — because the responsibility belongs to everybody.
With the 2016 presidential campaign in full swing and Republican candidate Donald Trump slinging mud left and right, we could all use a little more of Rogers’ positivity — especially Trump himself. We looked at some of Trump’s nastiest quotes since the election season started and paired them with the kind words and constructive advice of Fred Rogers.
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“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems. They’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime. They’re rapists and some, I assume, are good people, but I speak to border guards and they’re telling us what we’re getting.”
“There are three ways to ultimate success: The first way is to be kind. The second way is to be kind. The third way is to be kind.”
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“Sorry losers and haters, but my I.Q. is one of the highest -and you all know it! Please don’t feel so stupid or insecure, it’s not your fault.”
“It’s not what you possess, but what you do with what you possess, that really matters. So simple and yet so profound.”
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“You know, it doesn’t really matter what they write [speaking of the press] as long as you’ve got a young and beautiful piece of ass.”
“Mutual caring relationships require kindness and patience, tolerance, optimism, joy in the other’s achievements, confidence in oneself, and the ability to give without undue thought of gain.”
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“I think apologizing‘s a great thing, but you have to be wrong. I will absolutely apologize, sometime in the hopefully distant future, if I’m ever wrong.”
“A young apprentice applied to a master carpenter for a job. The older man asked him, ‘Do you know your trade?’ ‘Yes, sir!’ the young man replied proudly. ‘Have you ever made a mistake?’ the older man inquired. ‘No, sir!’ the young man answered, feeling certain he would get the job. ‘Then there’s no way I’m going to hire you,’ said the master carpenter, ‘because when you make one, you won’t know how to fix it.'”
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“I will build a great wall — and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me — and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”
“Imagine what our real neighborhoods would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person. There have been so many stories about the lack of courtesy, the impatience of today’s world, road rage and even restaurant rage. Sometimes, all it takes is one kind word to nourish another person. Think of the ripple effect that can be created when we nourish someone. One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many.”
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“Snowing in Texas and Louisiana, record setting freezing temperatures throughout the country and beyond. Global warming is an expensive hoax!”
“One of the greatest dignities of humankind is that each successive generation is invested in the welfare of each new generation.”
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“We should go for waterboarding and we should go tougher than waterboarding [when dealing with terrorists].”
“Peace means far more than the opposite of war.”
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“If you had more guns, you’d have more protection because the right people would have the guns.”
“It’s very dramatic when two people come together to work something out. It’s easy to take a gun and annihilate your opposition, but what is really exciting to me is to see people with differing views come together and finally respect each other.”
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“Our great African American President hasn’t exactly had a positive impact on the thugs who are so happily and openly destroying Baltimore!”
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
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“One of the key problems today is that politics is such a disgrace. Good people don’t go into government.”
“The greatest gift you ever give is your honest self.”