Won't You Be My (Poliphonic) Neighbor?

Ima let you on a little secret: I probably wouldn't be here right now if it wasn't for the man pictured above.

Yep, I was a big fan of the 'hood back in the day. No surprise there, right? But the actual secret is this —I wasn't watching the program in my Pre-school days, like you're supposed to. I was in my early teens.

And there's a very good reason for this. Believe me.

You see, I liked to come back after school and turn on to PBS on cable —which was available back then along with the other major US channels before Mexican cable turned into a craptastic fest of HBO, Cinemax and a dozen other useless 'options— and tune in to Mr. Rogers not only because I liked his soothing tone and calming demeanor, but most importantly because his voice and pace were easy to follow. And for a teenage Mexican boy frustrated with how little he could grasp of the spoken words in all those foreign programs, this turned out to be an invaluable tool.

So I started to 'train my ear' so to speak as Mr. Rogers took his time to put on his sweater and tie his sneakers. And after a while of listening I could finally move on to more challenging subjects —like Transformers and The Price is Right. By the time I could follow the sitcoms it felt like I had passed the final test.

Yet I kept on watching Mr. Rogers. It simply grew on me. And finally it dawned on me: this man was no ordinary TV personality or educator; he was in a whole league of his own.

This man was a saint.

So it is as a token of appreciation to this wonderful man that I share this video prepared by John Boswell and his Symphony of Science.

I shall always remain your grateful neighbor, Mr. R.