Deconstructing Mr. Rogers

In Light of You-Know-Who

            Everybody lately is quoting from the great poem by W. B. Yeats, "The Second Coming."  by W. B. Yeats. "Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;/ Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world," and "The best lack all conviction, while the worst/Are full of passionate intensity."

            And so on. It's a wonderful poem. It does seem to fit the current near-apocalyptic moment.

            But I thought I would go a little softer.

            You know Mr. Rogers? The now-deceased host of a children's TV show that was so low-key, you may marvel today that kids, even little kids, were devoted to it. But they were. And Mr. Rogers came across to those kids' parents (I was one) with earned authority.