As those who know me are aware, I admire
Mister Rogers, so when gift giving opportunities come up, I'm often the happy recipient of some sort of related merchandise, like a t-shirt or book. One of these items is a device called "Mister Rogers In Your Pocket." There are six buttons, the pushing of which will bring up snippets of one of his songs or a catch phrase. It seems kind of campy out of context, but for those of us who grew up with him, and strive in our way to emulate him, it isn't a bad way to be reminded of what it's all about.
I don't know if this is true everywhere, but for some reason Star Wars is huge at Woodland Park this year in both our 5's and 3-5's classes. It begs the question, can Mister Rogers and Darth Vader co-exist in our classroom? It's been a sort of metaphorical tug-of-war all year long. I've even gone so far as to invent my own Star Wars character, Darth Marcus, by way of providing me a mouthpiece to counter some of the more sociopathic things that seem to come from the mouths of the various other Darths. It's my way of asserting the idea that love transcends.
My friend Liam received "Darth Vader In Your Pocket" in his Easter basket and we both had our pocket companions with us in class yesterday. As we played with our toys, Mister Rogers and Darth Vader had the following conversation:
"If you only knew the power of the Dark Side."
"Discovering truth will make me free."
"I am your father."
"Please won't you be my neighbor?"
"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
"I think I'll make a snappy today."
"The Force is strong with this one."
"It's a beautiful day in this neighborhood, a beautiful day for neighbor."
"The Force is with you young Skywalker . . . but you are not a Jedi yet."
"Do you ever talk about love with someone you care for? I hope you do."
"You have failed me for the last time."
"I like you just the way you are."
Is Darth Marcus really Mister Rogers?
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That is SO COOL. Where'd you find the Mr. Rogers? I'm going to be on the hunt for one now, haha!
ReplyDeleteSometimes, I really feel like I need Mister Rogers with me helping me to make the right decisions. I'll try to be really good and maybe I'll get one for Christmas.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was little and listened to Mister Rogers I thought he sang "I think I'll make a snappy *today*" just like you wrote. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the words to the iconic song online, as an adult, and it was instead, "I think I'll make a snappy *new day*!" What? I love Mr. Rogers either way!
ReplyDelete