I'm Proud of You: My Friendship with Fred Rogers

This book is a mixed bag. People who love the book - please remember my experience doesn't need to take away from yours. Not in the least. I'm happy for everyone who gained connection, understanding, and emotional growth in their reading - and I, like you (probably), want to grow in my experience of connection and brotherhood with my fellow human beings.

I found it to be a worthwhile read, as I'm fascinated by Fred Rogers and his legacy - and I value the push for men to become more open and familiar with their emotional experience of life. The fact that white men are more threatened by self harming behavior between the ages of 45 and 55 than any other danger to their lives bears out the need for more awareness. Guys are depressed, and show more middle life brings changes that they aren't prepared to handle.

That said, there are some odd tones throughout the book that I was able to give a pass until around 60% of the way in. The author keeps introducing people he briefly considers the most important people on Earth, only to lead up to details of how he responds to their deaths and critical hardship. It's very strange to me how each of these individuals can be his biggest priorities for fleeting moments of time that coincide with their death and suffering.

When his brother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he waits an entire year before visiting him - then harps on the importance of each and every instant of his remaining days. It feels unintentionally vampiric - and I say unintentionally with every hope that you'll hear me loud and clear. I don't think he means to come across this way at all - and I'm certain his responses are more healthy than many (most?) men could bring themselves to write about and experience fully - but it reaches the point of distracting preoccupation for him.

There seems to be a market motive, however unconscious, for the book in that it admittedly follows in the footsteps of Tuesdays With Morrie and that book's success and audience. It does so in a less spiritual and engaging fashion - - but again, I don't think anyone has overt negative or dishonorable intentions.

The end acknowledges that the story was scrutinized and directly steered (in an editorial sense) by Fred Roger's business partners and family. A journalist should balk at such a proposition - but perhaps it was the only way to gain approval for publication. I don't know if that compromise resulted in an honest portrayal, though - and at the end of the day that may be a tragic result.

It's good to know that Fred Rogers had outlets to communicate his abundant suffering. The importance of suffering in some religious traditions is certainly promoted and aggrandized throughout the story. That's an aspect of Christianity that I find heartbreaking in its scope of unintended consequence - which seems to result in reduced efforts to alleviate suffering on a grander scale. Fred himself did untold worlds of good on that front, when it came to ministering to the emotional awareness and self acceptance of children. That's his unsullied legacy. The underpinnings seem to indicate a tortured soul who related strongly to other tortured souls - and if you are looking for answers or examples to alleviate that undercurrent of fearful dependence on supernatural aid, you won't find help here. You'll find people who examine the pain, reframe it to give it meaning beyond the natural world, and seem to hop from pain to pain - supping upon the sharpening of the mind that it can bring. Many people find this to be a good thing, apparently. I feel we can do better. show less

This book makes me cry every time I read it. It's beautifully written, short enough to be read in an afternoon, and it really captures the beautiful spirit of the Mister Rogers that my generation knows and loves. It's reassuring to know that the TV icon that kept me company as a child was the same man in real life, when so many times the actors we see on TV don't match up to their real-life counterparts. This is a great book, I highly recommend it :)

A great friendship amid Furies (Fred’s term for the author’s struggles with depression and marriage turmoil) is rare. The friendship described in the narrative and witnessed through many letters and emails is encouraging and inspiring. I had been impressed with Rogers from the superb Tom Hanks portrayal and his biography in The Good Neighbor but this first hand witness was the most impressive to me. I particularly appreciated reading more personal words from Fred about his faith in God.

I hate even trying to review this one - its just so impossible to put into words. Tim Madigan has given us a fantastic book that is as much about his own story as it is Fred Rogers, yet still gives us those glimpses of the real Fred Rogers (who was the same as the "Mister Rogers" we all saw on tv) that just mean so much to so many of us. One word that comes to mind about Mr. Rogers is authentic, and this book only confirms that further to me. I'm not sure what else to say about this book. Tim Madigan has graciously given us a short bibliography of some of the books that he and Mr. Rogers discussed during their friendship - I think that reading through those might be one of my new reading goals.

(If you haven't figured out all ready, Mr. show more Rogers is on my list of very very special celebrities - one of my prized possessions is my letter I received from Mr. Rogers in response to a letter I sent him - oddly enough one I wrote when I was in middle school and thus too old to watch his show, but had read an article about him that gave his address... and to this day reading that letter makes me cry, because I do believe that Mr. Roger's God given gift was the ability to give everyone the feeling that they are special and unique and important, even if he never met them in real life...) show less

Madigan shares some of the most trying times of his life and his most difficult hurdles to overcome, and celebrates the friend who was there with him through it all: Fred Rogers. unlikely as it seemed to him, a newspaper reporter who had never watched the Mister Rogers children’s show but who was sent to interview the icon, Tim and Fred bonded almost instantly and remained very close until Fred’s death in 2003. by honestly and openly telling of his marital problems, difficulties with his father, minor setbacks, the slow death of his brother to cancer- and how it affected him and how he, with Rogers as his mentor, made it through them all a better person, he touches on the deep common humanity in us all and gives us hope.

and in this show more way he continues the work of Fred Rogers. as one reviewer put it: Fred Rogers inspired people because he saw the good in them; he challenged people because he wanted them to see the good in themselves. even just reading about Rogers’ friendship with Madigan reinforces the idea that there is good in you, and that at least one someone out there somewhere knows that, and will believe in you no matter what happens.

the style is straightforward prose, much like one would expect from a newspaper article, but the story is moving and revealing as well. show less

I knew that Mister Rogers was a nice man. His warmth and adoration of children was very apparent on his show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, which I grew up watching and loving (and I bet you did, too).

But author Tim Madigan, who wrote articles for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, had the opportunity to interview Mr. Rogers, and then as a result they became very close friends. This book describes the "almost unbearable" sweetness of Mr. Rogers and how he took his show and its message very seriously, wanting to bring happiness, self-confidence, and education to his young viewers.

A major part of the book (and the most difficult, yet inspiring, to read) is dedicated to the author's brother, Steve, who died from cancer at age 41. Mr. Rogers show more offered prayers and comfort to their entire family as they lost a brother, father, husband, and son. He prayed for Steve every morning by name.

If you're interested in learning more about Mister Rogers, I highly recommend this book. He was probably one of the most gentle, caring, outwardly and unapologetic compassionate people who have ever graced this earth with their presence. show less

A moving story of someone who actually had a personal relationship with Fred Rogers (unlike all the rest of us who just imagined we did).

Madigan shares their friendship as it progresses from an interview to a series of letters and gifts shared between the men.