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Comment by aklemm | Hacker News Reader

Mister Rogers' interactions with other people are the purest and most kind I've ever witnessed, so I pondered for a long time how it is that he could be so humane and kind. Finally I realized the whole thing comes from his ability to take others for exactly who they are in those moments.

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He took his Christian faith very seriously and that heavily influenced his worldview and treatment of others.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

Jesus in the book of Mark 12:30-31

And Rogers had his own related message: "Love your neighbor and love yourself."

That's very well articulated. He had no pretense and never came across as patronizing, at least in my (admittedly limited) sampling of old episodes via YouTube.

The "take others for exactly who they are" mentality captures his earnestness and utter lack of guile in his interactions. I'm sure you've seen him testify before the Senate Subcommittee on Communications to maintain funding for PBS [0], but I'll leave this link here anyway, for others who might not have seen this.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKy7ljRr0AA

It was also clear to me that he was truly willing to devote as much of his attention as possible to another person for a solid minute or two. Not long at all, but it feels like an eternity when you see his non-judgmental, undistracted gaze locked in.

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