Today is the birthday Fred McFeely Rogers, aka “Mister Rogers.” One of my earliest heroes, he modeled for me a way of being, or looking at the world, and a vision for community that continues to inspire me to this day.
I now work for a PBS station, which is honestly still a thrill.
One of the quotes that often gets tossed around about Fred Rogers is his response to tragedy:
When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’
Sounds great, but that can be hard to operationalize.
One of my responsibilities is leading career panels for visiting high school groups. At one of them, a student asked on of our journalists what it was like reporting on so many depressing stories, and if it got to them.
The reporter replied that she focuses on “Solution Reporting.” “When I report on a problem or issue, I always try and find someone looking to fix or address that problem. So we aren’t just leaving people feeling hopeless.”