Mary Lou Kownacki: “There isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story.
When I was very young, most of my childhood heroes wore capes... But, as I grew my heroes changed so that now I can honestly say that anyone who does anything to help a child, is a hero to me.
One of our chief jobs in life, it seems to me, is to realize how rare and valuable each one of us really is–that each of us has something which no one else has–or ever will have–something inside which is unique to all time.
Sometimes you are in just the right place.
In order to express our sense of reality, we must use some kind of symbol: words or notes or shades of paint or television pictures or sculpted forms. None of those symbols or images can ever completely satisfy us because they can never be any more than what they are – a fragment of a reflection of what we feel reality to be.
The toughest thing is to love somebody who has done something mean to you–especially when that somebody is yourself. Look inside yourself and find that loving part of you. Take good care of that part because it helps you love your neighbor.
It’s the people who feel strong and good about themselves inside who are best able to accept outside differences – their own or others‘. We help children develop this ability every time we affirm how special they are to us for being themselves, and how special to us are all the things that make each person different from anyone else.
I think one of the greatest gifts you can give anybody is the gift of your honest self.
We’re still one of the islands that encourage quiet and some space to think. We hear every day from people saying how grateful they are for some time of calm.
All I can do is be myself. I’ve had the grace to be able to do that. I walk into the studio and I think, ‘Let some word that is heard be Thine.
It takes strength to face our sadness and to grieve and to let our grief and our anger flow in tears when they need to. It takes strength to talk about our feelings and to reach out for help and comfort when we need it.
I have no fear of dying. And, you know, I would be very glad to talk with, with anybody, about the joy of going on. You know, what’s next? It’ll be fun, too. I have a great trust in God’s constant care; this is just one chapter in a long, long book: this part that we call ‘being on Earth,’ you know?
I was walking this far off the ground,′ Rogers said, smiling at the memory and holding his hand a foot above the floor. ‘You know, there are special times and there are extra special times. I feel that the real drama of life is never center stage, it’s always in the wings. It’s never with the spotlight on, it’s usually something that you don’t expect at all.
I feel the support of someone who is on my side, who understands what life’s choices are like, someone who says, “I’ve been there, and it’s okay to go on.
Celebrate those who have loved us into being.
A quote he loved especially – and carried around with him – was from Mary Lou Kownacki: “There isn’t anyone you couldn’t love once you’ve heard their story.” There were many times I wanted to be angry at someone, and Fred would say, “But I wonder what was going on in that person’s day.” His capacity for understanding always amazed me.
Love doesn’t mean a state of perfect caring. To love someone is to strive to accept that person exactly the way he or she is, right here and now – and to go on caring through joyful times and through times that may bring us pain.
Where would any of us be without teachers–without people who have passion for their art or their science or their craft and love it right in front of us? What would any of us do without teachers passing on to us what they know is essential about life?
Later on, he brought that same sense of hard work and inner discipline to his work. Whether he was working on a script for the Neighborhood programs or on a speech, he fretted over the words, attempting to make the content meaningful. I can remember his saying over and over again, as he worked at the fourth or fifth draft of whatever he happened to be writing, “Simple is better.
Parenthood is not learned: Parenthood is an inner change.
I’ve learned what is most worth knowing through living each day as it is given to me. It cannot be ‘taught’ but it can be ‘caught’ from those who live their lives right along with us.