WEBVTT - Christof 0:00:00.200 --> 0:00:02.559 Teething can be a real nightmare for your little ones. 0:00:02.640 --> 0:00:05.960 Highlands Naturals Baby oral pain relief tablets can help ease 0:00:06.000 --> 0:00:09.119 the pain. It's gentle, natural active ingredients like camemel and 0:00:09.200 --> 0:00:12.280 arnica suit your baby's mouth, and gums made with ingredients 0:00:12.280 --> 0:00:15.640 derived from plant minerals and other sources free of harsh chemicals. 0:00:15.680 --> 0:00:18.319 You can count on Highlands for serious pain relief for 0:00:18.360 --> 0:00:21.079 your teething baby. Highlands is a kinder way to care 0:00:21.120 --> 0:00:24.239 for teething. Visit Highlands dot com. Slash kind that's h 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:26.760 y L A n d S dot com. Slash Kind 0:00:26.840 --> 0:00:29.400 claims based on traditional homeopathrocratic is not accept The medical 0:00:29.440 --> 0:00:32.720 evidence not ft evaluated. Do you suffer from zoom fatigue? 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:35.480 Utter dot ai is here to help use auter dot 0:00:35.520 --> 0:00:38.200 ai to get automatic meeting notes. You can even step 0:00:38.200 --> 0:00:40.360 away from the meeting and catch up any time. Get 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.320 started for free at auter dot ai or download in 0:00:43.320 --> 0:00:46.720 the app stores. That's otter dot ai. Do you suffer 0:00:46.760 --> 0:00:49.600 from zoom fatigue? Utter dot ai is here to help 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:52.640 use auto dot ai to get automatic meeting notes. You 0:00:52.680 --> 0:00:54.600 can even step away from the meeting and catch up 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:57.640 any time. Get started for free at auter dot ai 0:00:57.800 --> 0:01:00.720 or download in the app stores. That's otter dot Ai. 0:01:01.520 --> 0:01:04.720 Hey everyone, it's Carvel and before we get into this episode, 0:01:04.920 --> 0:01:08.080 I want to ask you a favor. Throughout this series, 0:01:08.120 --> 0:01:10.680 we've talked a lot about how Fred Rogers has helped 0:01:10.760 --> 0:01:13.279 show us how to make the world a kinder place, 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:16.720 a better place. But now we want to hear from you. 0:01:16.840 --> 0:01:19.920 We want to hear a story about when someone in 0:01:20.080 --> 0:01:23.840 your life showed you what it means to be a helper. 0:01:24.160 --> 0:01:27.200 Maybe it's someone in your family, or someone in your community, 0:01:27.640 --> 0:01:29.920 or someone that you haven't seen since you were a kid, 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:32.480 but that you still think about something they did to 0:01:32.520 --> 0:01:35.560 help you. Whoever they are, wherever they are, however they're helping, 0:01:36.040 --> 0:01:38.080 we want to hear about it. So give us a 0:01:38.080 --> 0:01:42.120 call at three three six five one five zero five 0:01:42.240 --> 0:01:44.920 to nine. Again, that's three three six five one five 0:01:45.400 --> 0:01:48.919 zero five to nine, and tell us a story about 0:01:48.960 --> 0:01:51.080 someone who has shown you how to be a helper 0:01:51.320 --> 0:01:54.440 and we might just play it on an upcoming episode. Again, 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:58.280 that number is three three six five one five zero 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:01.200 five two nine, Or you can tweet your story with 0:02:01.240 --> 0:02:05.120 the hashtag finding Fred. Okay, now let's start the show 0:02:07.320 --> 0:02:11.320 with a Nasha Studio. That sounds studio. Well, that's very 0:02:11.360 --> 0:02:15.079 much like the place we make our television visits. It's 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:24.160 and Mr Rogers is in Moscow. Here would you like 0:02:24.240 --> 0:02:27.960 to play? Of course I would. I'd love to touch 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:48.760 a piano wherever I go by. The Soviet Union has 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.960 just begun opening up dialogue with the US, and that 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:56.079 somehow landed Mr Rogers on the set of good Night, 0:02:56.200 --> 0:03:01.560 Little Ones, the USSRS longest running children's pro graham. Back then, 0:03:01.639 --> 0:03:04.280 there was no television except for one channel that was 0:03:04.320 --> 0:03:07.679 played in Russian, which I could understand mostly the news propaganda, 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:10.200 and then there was a childhood program that played at 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:14.440 night that I also couldn't understand. Kristof Putzel was an 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.280 American kid living in Moscow at the time. Both my 0:03:17.320 --> 0:03:22.079 parents were journalists. They were assigned to cover what ended 0:03:22.160 --> 0:03:25.080 up being the collapse of the Soviet Union. My parents 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:30.800 job was to make sense of a place that didn't 0:03:30.800 --> 0:03:35.720 make a lot of sense, where information was controlled. Kristof's 0:03:35.760 --> 0:03:38.400 father was the bureau chief for the Associated Press. His 0:03:38.480 --> 0:03:41.480 mother was the deputy bureau chief for Time magazine. They 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.640 moved to Moscow in and took seven year old Kristof 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:48.520 and his sister along with them. My parents had told 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:50.880 me that the biggest toy store in the entire Soviet 0:03:51.000 --> 0:03:54.000 Union was across the street from our house. This was 0:03:54.040 --> 0:03:57.000 the way they tempted me to go there and agreeeded 0:03:57.080 --> 0:03:59.040 this whole thing as a seven year old. And let 0:03:59.040 --> 0:04:00.920 me tell you, it's the first time ever gone to 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:02.960 a toy store anyway. It's nothing I wanted to buy, 0:04:03.040 --> 0:04:06.480 because there was nothing on the shelves. Um. There was 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:08.960 I think shoes, some clothes, and a couple of tin 0:04:09.920 --> 0:04:12.440 toy things and some really complicated models that I think 0:04:12.440 --> 0:04:18.720 we're for adults. And that was it. This is the 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:27.880 biggest toy store seven It's nothing I wanted. I'm Carlo 0:04:27.960 --> 0:04:31.440 Wallace and this is Finding Fred, a podcast about Fred 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:34.760 Rogers from I Heart Media and Fatherly in partnership with 0:04:34.800 --> 0:04:44.159 Transmitter Media. We often talk about how adaptable kids are, 0:04:44.839 --> 0:04:49.719 but Kristoff says, the move to Moscow was really hard. Frankly, 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:53.200 I was pretty depressed. Um, you just have to understand 0:04:53.320 --> 0:04:58.479 just how hard Russia was in the eighties, especially for 0:04:58.520 --> 0:05:01.919 a kid, you know, at being so cold, dark, no 0:05:02.040 --> 0:05:06.560 access to stuff. Um. Sometimes friends would record like tapes 0:05:06.600 --> 0:05:08.400 that cassette tapes and then mail them and I would 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.360 listen to their voices. We didn't live in an embassy. 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:15.479 We lived in a square foot apartment my mom, my dad, 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:19.119 and my sister, myself and our Golden retriever, only golden 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.680 retriever in the entire civic Union. People thought that it 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:25.560 was a lion. Our apartment was bugged because the KGB 0:05:25.640 --> 0:05:29.360 always kept a close eye on them, and they would 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.479 follow us anytime we were going outside of the city. 0:05:32.839 --> 0:05:35.120 They would constantly try to attempt to set up my 0:05:35.160 --> 0:05:40.000 parents to see if they were actually spies, and always 0:05:40.000 --> 0:05:43.440 monitored whatever stories they're working on. There was always somebody 0:05:43.480 --> 0:05:48.080 watching and nothing to watch on TV, no familiar cultural 0:05:48.200 --> 0:05:52.240 touchstones like Sesame Street or three to one contact. So 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:57.880 I would watch the same VHS tapes over and over 0:05:57.960 --> 0:05:59.880 and over again that people would mail from the US. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.120 They would just tape whatever was on TV and mail it. 0:06:04.200 --> 0:06:06.920 We'd get it three, four or five months later, if 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:10.640 we got it at all. And those were like gold 0:06:10.880 --> 0:06:16.440 I like you, Yes, I do, I like you. And 0:06:16.480 --> 0:06:20.200 on a few of those precious VHS tapes were old 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:27.359 episodes of Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. Certainly do I'm glad you 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.719 were with me on my swing. So Mr Rogers in 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:34.560 Moscow was big news, and Christoph's parents managed to get 0:06:34.600 --> 0:06:38.840 word to Fred telling him about their depressed kid. And 0:06:38.880 --> 0:06:42.200 for Fred Rogers, a note about a sad child was 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.719 like the bat signal. There was one day when my 0:06:45.839 --> 0:06:49.480 parents told me to make sure I was home for dinner, 0:06:49.560 --> 0:06:51.400 which I always was, but I remember being weird. They're like, 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:56.160 now there's a special dinner tonight. I just remember a 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:59.200 knock on the door and I'd sort of gotten used 0:06:59.240 --> 0:07:01.800 to being let owned by surprises of them trying to 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:05.400 like cheer us up in communist Moscow, you know. And 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.600 I opened the door and there's Mr Rodgers in his 0:07:09.640 --> 0:07:14.720 card again and the blue shoes, and my jaw apparently 0:07:14.800 --> 0:07:18.000 just dropped. I remember just being awe struck. I didn't 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.720 understand why Mr Rogers was at my door. I grew 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.720 up watching Mr Rogers. I knew every character, I knew 0:07:25.120 --> 0:07:27.840 I'd probably had seen every episode at least for that 0:07:28.040 --> 0:07:31.760 time frame. Um, And so there I was, and he 0:07:31.840 --> 0:07:35.320 walks in the door, and he gets down to my 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:38.960 eye level and shakes my hand and introduces himself as 0:07:38.960 --> 0:07:42.640 Fred Rogers and asked what my name was, and I 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:44.440 don't even know if I could get the words out 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:52.520 of my mouth because Mr Rodgers in the apartment, and um, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:55.920 it was just him on his own and just by himself. 0:08:01.080 --> 0:08:03.280 I think it was the first time in my life 0:08:04.160 --> 0:08:11.160 where I felt seen by an adult, like when he 0:08:11.240 --> 0:08:13.680 got down to my eye level, introduced himself and looked 0:08:13.720 --> 0:08:16.000 me in the eye. Of course, I've had adults introduced 0:08:16.040 --> 0:08:18.240 themselves to me a million times up to that point 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:20.600 and asked me what my name was, But the way 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:25.640 that he looked at me, I felt like you saw me. 0:08:31.440 --> 0:08:34.319 Then he came into the living room and we sat 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:38.480 down and he opened up his suitcase. He had a 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:40.560 suitcase with him. I feel like it was a briefcase, 0:08:40.600 --> 0:08:42.600 but it must have been bigger than that. Um. And 0:08:42.640 --> 0:08:47.160 he opens it up and they're all the puppets. I 0:08:47.200 --> 0:08:49.840 had never put together that Mr Rodgers did the voices. 0:08:50.320 --> 0:08:53.840 I didn't, And so suddenly they were talking and I 0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:58.560 had King Friday and um and actually owl in my 0:08:59.240 --> 0:09:03.120 on my couch. This is a real moment for a child, 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:06.200 you know. And UM, I think what just really struck 0:09:06.240 --> 0:09:09.840 me about it was how normal it felt. I mean, 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:14.760 not normal. What's the word. Um, it's while it felt surreal, 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:18.640 it felt like I was in I was in the 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.160 land of make believe. Suddenly my couch suddenly turned into 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:26.640 that in my apartment, and um, it was just like 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.720 the show. I mean, he was wearing the same stuff. 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.920 This isn't a like since it set. It wasn't like 0:09:34.000 --> 0:09:37.800 backstage he was. He had the cardigan on and the 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.680 blue shoes. Like I mean, first of all, I'm just 0:09:40.720 --> 0:09:44.320 really struck by the kind of person you have to be, 0:09:44.360 --> 0:09:46.800 the kind of self possession you have to have to 0:09:47.160 --> 0:09:51.280 just walk into some strangers houses and spend the evening 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:53.599 with them, like we don't, Like, we don't know. I 0:09:53.600 --> 0:09:56.840 don't know how to do that. I'm like, like, ostensibly 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.440 my job is to be charismatic in public, and I 0:09:59.480 --> 0:10:01.760 still don't. I don't know if I would know how 0:10:01.840 --> 0:10:06.439 to just go into someone's house with nothing but myself 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:08.960 and his suitcase of puppets to spend the evening with 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:15.959 them and their family. I have kids, and oftentimes I 0:10:16.000 --> 0:10:19.599 think about the ways in which illusions are created for 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:22.679 them and also shattered for them. And so it's a 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:25.120 tailor as old as time that like the kid has 0:10:25.160 --> 0:10:28.040 someone that they they have idolized, and television. Then they 0:10:28.040 --> 0:10:29.440 meet them and then the person is not who they 0:10:29.480 --> 0:10:31.560 thought they were and they're crushed. And you had the 0:10:31.559 --> 0:10:34.600 opposite experience. You you sort of thought this guy was fine, 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:36.480 and then you meet him and you find out that 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:38.640 he's exactly who as good as he says he is. 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:43.319 But I wonder if you ever felt let down. Later. 0:10:44.080 --> 0:10:45.880 Mom one time took me to the set of Sesame 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:47.960 Street because she was working on a story for Time magazine. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:52.319 And I went and I was horrified because Big Bird 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:55.360 was walking around without the top, you know, just the legs, 0:10:55.800 --> 0:11:00.760 and the muppets were all like, you know, like lying 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.200 there like corpses, and and they'd warned my mom, they said, 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.840 you know, credit, they said, we don't usually encourage children 0:11:06.840 --> 0:11:10.040 to come here. And it was a little jarring. Um, 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:20.600 But that wasn't the case with Mr Rodgers. More from 0:11:20.679 --> 0:11:31.800 Christoph in just a moment. Teething can be a real 0:11:31.880 --> 0:11:33.760 nightmare for your little ones. So are you looking for 0:11:33.800 --> 0:11:37.600 the best relief to soothe teething pain? 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Mr Rogers visit has stuck with Christoph. 0:13:47.559 --> 0:13:49.679 It's not just that Mr Rogers got down on one 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:51.800 knee and looked him in the eye, or that he 0:13:51.840 --> 0:13:54.240 got to play with King Friday and X the Owl 0:13:54.960 --> 0:13:59.400 it's the kindness of Mr Rogers, the effort Fred made 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:02.360 in the midst of a busy trip to help a kid, 0:14:03.280 --> 0:14:05.000 like I mean, just think about this for a second. 0:14:06.160 --> 0:14:10.240 He went all the way across town in a city 0:14:10.320 --> 0:14:13.280 he didn't know, which is a hard place to get around, 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.280 to meet a family that he didn't know, just because 0:14:17.280 --> 0:14:19.320 he heard that there were some kids that were kind 0:14:19.320 --> 0:14:22.560 of having a tough time. So why do you think 0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:28.520 he did that. It's a really good question. I think 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:32.080 that he heard that there were some kids that grew 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.520 up watching the show and we're having I think a 0:14:35.600 --> 0:14:37.520 tough time. There wasn't a whole lot of stuff to 0:14:37.520 --> 0:14:40.240 look forward to, and then it would be amazing if 0:14:40.560 --> 0:14:42.600 he would meet them, And he apparently just jumped at 0:14:42.600 --> 0:14:45.800 the opportunity. And so of course, you know, um, you 0:14:45.840 --> 0:14:47.440 can imagine a number of people that might want to 0:14:47.440 --> 0:14:49.360 meet Fred Rodgers or I don't know, maybe no one 0:14:49.440 --> 0:14:51.840 asked him. Yeah, he just came and did it, and 0:14:51.880 --> 0:14:54.200 he spent real time. He like sat on the couch 0:14:54.240 --> 0:14:57.680 and did a whole puppet show and I played with them, 0:14:57.720 --> 0:14:59.360 like I got the hold. I mean that was crazy. 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:02.120 I mean I got to old the King and the 0:15:02.120 --> 0:15:05.640 owl and the cat and like like uh. And then 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:07.640 he had dinner with us, and then we drove him 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:09.400 back to the American Embassy where he was staying, and 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.800 so I sat in the back seat of our station wagon. 0:15:12.160 --> 0:15:15.400 It was one of the only subarus in the entire 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.640 Soviet Union. And we sat in the backseat and I 0:15:18.680 --> 0:15:20.320 just sat there with Mr Rogers as we drove him 0:15:20.320 --> 0:15:24.040 across town and drove him to the front of marrin Ambazy. Oh. 0:15:24.120 --> 0:15:26.400 And he was asking questions because he didn't know anything 0:15:26.440 --> 0:15:28.600 about Moscow. So when we're driving, he was asking questions 0:15:28.640 --> 0:15:31.080 about what's this, what's this? I knew the answers like. 0:15:31.120 --> 0:15:34.520 I was like, oh, that's um you know, that's the 0:15:34.560 --> 0:15:36.680 monument to your your gagar And he was like, oh, 0:15:36.720 --> 0:15:39.040 that's interesting. Or do you like space? I was like, yeah, 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:44.880 I like space. I remember just wanting, like always fantasizing 0:15:44.880 --> 0:15:47.440 about friends coming so I could tell them about what 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:48.880 this place was like. And I'd be like, I know 0:15:48.920 --> 0:15:51.680 this looks weird, but look at this. This is you know, look, yes, 0:15:51.760 --> 0:15:53.960 it's normal to see like an entire army going down 0:15:54.040 --> 0:15:56.440 the street, you know, like, oh yeah, we see tanks 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:59.200 all the time. Oh yeah, they parade these missiles around constantly, 0:15:59.200 --> 0:16:01.080 like I know it looks now, but that's what life 0:16:01.200 --> 0:16:04.720 is here. And it never happened because no one ever 0:16:04.760 --> 0:16:08.320 came to visit. And I got to give that towards 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:13.280 Mr Rodgers. He must have known that just by him 0:16:13.320 --> 0:16:18.400 being there this was had suddenly transformed Moscow, a place 0:16:18.480 --> 0:16:20.960 that I hated as a child, into the most magical 0:16:21.000 --> 0:16:23.080 place I've ever been. And then got to ride to 0:16:23.240 --> 0:16:28.080 Moscow with Mr Rogers and point out all this stuff. 0:16:28.760 --> 0:16:30.720 I mean, I still look back at that, it's like 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:37.880 it was just magical when I was a kid. As 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.840 odd as it sounds, I did the exact same thing 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:45.440 I imagined Ricky Ricardo for some reason, time traveling from 0:16:45.440 --> 0:16:49.040 the nineteen fifties to my childhood in the eighties and 0:16:49.160 --> 0:16:53.480 letting me explain everything to him Walkman and pac Man 0:16:53.520 --> 0:16:57.840 and Prince. I think now that that was a cure 0:16:58.360 --> 0:17:01.960 for a kind of loneliness that I felt. That Kristoff 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.439 felt that maybe a lot of kids feel this world 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.600 is so big and so many things are happening to 0:17:09.680 --> 0:17:12.440 us all the time, and we feel sometimes like we're 0:17:12.520 --> 0:17:15.440 little helpless creatures in the midst of all of it. 0:17:16.160 --> 0:17:19.000 So maybe it's just really nice to think that there's 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:24.640 someone somewhere who cares what you like, specifically you are 0:17:24.720 --> 0:17:29.360 seeing and experiencing. That's the gift that Fred Rogers gave 0:17:29.440 --> 0:17:33.040 to christof that night, and maybe that's the gift he 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:37.720 gave to all of us. You know. I have this really, 0:17:37.920 --> 0:17:40.960 this weird question that's been on my mind. I was thinking, 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.160 I think a lot about good people and what makes 0:17:43.200 --> 0:17:46.040 a good person, and so much of what Fred Rogers 0:17:46.080 --> 0:17:49.440 was about was about ways and systems and methods for 0:17:49.560 --> 0:17:54.000 being a good person, and I I keep returning to 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:57.680 Wise and everyone like that. I want to ask you, first, 0:17:57.680 --> 0:18:01.560 do you think of yourself as a good person? I do, 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.040 but I think it's taken a lot of time and 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:09.080 struggle and experiences with not always being the best person, 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:14.080 interactions with not always the best people, but then also 0:18:14.720 --> 0:18:19.560 the experience of having genuine connection, uh and experiences with 0:18:19.920 --> 0:18:22.480 people that consider really good and I think that has 0:18:22.480 --> 0:18:25.800 helped me become a better person and someone I'm still 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:31.160 trying to be um because I guess I wonder, I mean, 0:18:31.200 --> 0:18:34.280 I I have this obvious question, which is why isn't 0:18:34.320 --> 0:18:37.600 everyone like Fred Rogers? Like? Why? Why like I assume 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:41.600 that you don't think of yourself as being capable of 0:18:41.600 --> 0:18:43.240 being what he was or doing what he does not 0:18:43.560 --> 0:18:44.960 I guess I want to know what you feel like 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:49.399 in your own life stands in your way. It's a 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:59.000 really good question. I don't know, you know, like why 0:19:00.560 --> 0:19:04.560 I think that I just might not have the patience 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:06.840 that he had for people? You know, I think just 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:10.280 the um at least not always, you know. I think 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.840 I have my moments, and I've certainly been inspired by 0:19:12.880 --> 0:19:15.280 him and this memory, and I love what I do 0:19:15.400 --> 0:19:19.080 for a living. But for someone to be like that 0:19:19.160 --> 0:19:21.840 all the time, to have everyone who's ever had an 0:19:21.880 --> 0:19:27.520 interaction with you to just feel seen and heard while 0:19:27.560 --> 0:19:31.400 also like embraced and almost hugged in a way, even 0:19:31.440 --> 0:19:35.760 if he wasn't doing that physically, I doubt that the 0:19:35.760 --> 0:19:37.320 people in my life would say that I'm like that, 0:19:40.920 --> 0:19:44.920 you know, um uh, But what gets in my way? 0:19:47.520 --> 0:19:52.600 You know? I guess that I think, um, probably cynicism, 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:54.520 you know. I think I've struggled a lot with this 0:19:54.600 --> 0:19:58.040 question of like what is like just unconditional love and 0:19:58.640 --> 0:20:04.080 how do you practice that even with everybody? Yeah, So 0:20:04.119 --> 0:20:06.800 I'm working on a podcast right now about my relationship 0:20:06.840 --> 0:20:09.119 with one of the world's most wanted terrorists. And I 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:14.360 had a connection with this guy who was wanted by 0:20:14.560 --> 0:20:16.520 you know, everyone in the world pretty much, the CIA, 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:20.239 the State's Department, the FBI, the African Union. He had 0:20:20.240 --> 0:20:21.520 a five million do I bound you on his head 0:20:21.520 --> 0:20:22.679 and I was the only one I knew where he was. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:24.359 And he would call me in the middle of the 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:27.800 night just to chat because he just wanted to connect 0:20:27.840 --> 0:20:30.399 with another human being towards the end, and while he 0:20:30.440 --> 0:20:32.439 was hoping I could help keep him alive. When I 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:40.000 couldn't do that, we would just talk and it started 0:20:40.119 --> 0:20:42.040 just a great scoop for me. But then came this 0:20:42.080 --> 0:20:44.600 person that I couldn't help but start caring about. And 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:49.879 that gets really confusing, you know, especially when it's somebody 0:20:49.920 --> 0:20:52.640 that has done terrible things, you know, or supposedly done 0:20:52.680 --> 0:20:55.240 terrible things, or that's supposed to be an enemy, or 0:20:55.280 --> 0:21:00.000 somebody that you hate, or somebody that deserves to be killed. UM. 0:20:59.800 --> 0:21:10.960 And I find all human beings, um people, Everyone you 0:21:11.000 --> 0:21:14.480 know is worthy of being listened to and being and 0:21:14.720 --> 0:21:18.040 spoken to. It doesn't mean taking all their b s. 0:21:18.160 --> 0:21:20.760 It doesn't mean, like you know, set yourself up to 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:25.399 be abused or or or taken advantage of. UM. But 0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.679 I think everyone, all any of us just want us 0:21:28.680 --> 0:21:31.199 to be loved and to be heard and to be 0:21:31.240 --> 0:21:37.000 seen and UM. And I think that your presence is 0:21:37.040 --> 0:21:40.360 the greatest gift you can give somebody. I just think 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:42.639 that's what I believe. It's just actually learning how to 0:21:42.680 --> 0:21:46.800 be genuinely present, Like in that moment that he came 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.280 down and sat and just like looked me in the eye, 0:21:49.440 --> 0:21:52.240 asked me a genuine question and then just don't feel 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:55.960 like he felt he needed to be anywhere else. That's presence. 0:21:56.200 --> 0:21:57.639 And I feel like when you can give that to 0:21:57.680 --> 0:22:00.120 another human, that's the best gift you can give somebody. 0:22:01.000 --> 0:22:02.920 And I think what keeps us, and right a second, 0:22:02.960 --> 0:22:04.960 speak myself, what keeps us from doing that is it's 0:22:05.000 --> 0:22:07.320 just really hard to be present, you know. I think 0:22:07.359 --> 0:22:10.000 that we our minds are scattered with our wants of 0:22:10.080 --> 0:22:12.159 what we think we want, what our desires are, with 0:22:12.280 --> 0:22:13.600 the ways that we think we're going to get it, 0:22:13.840 --> 0:22:16.440 our relationship to the world, how we think the world 0:22:16.440 --> 0:22:20.000 perceives us. UM. We care a lot about a lot 0:22:20.000 --> 0:22:24.120 of stuff that usually isn't relevant. And I think that's 0:22:24.119 --> 0:22:26.600 what gets in the way I want to. I want 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:33.000 to ask you, um about the world as it currently stands. 0:22:34.480 --> 0:22:37.040 And like the last thing he did on television was 0:22:37.080 --> 0:22:41.119 a public service announcement after nine eleven m that was 0:22:41.119 --> 0:22:43.840 the last time we saw him on TV. Uh and 0:22:43.920 --> 0:22:47.960 he died soon after that. And when I watched that footage, 0:22:48.000 --> 0:22:51.840 I often feel like I'm watching a person who has 0:22:51.960 --> 0:22:57.159 ultimately been outmatched by just the huge well of capacity 0:22:57.200 --> 0:23:01.000 of for badness among people. And when I look at 0:23:01.000 --> 0:23:05.560 the world today, it does seem like so much of 0:23:05.600 --> 0:23:08.760 that badness has like gained energy and momentum and focus 0:23:08.760 --> 0:23:12.400 and force and push. And I wonder, your journalist, your 0:23:12.520 --> 0:23:16.159 job is to investigate all, to investigate the human condition 0:23:16.240 --> 0:23:19.240 via our individual stories and the stories we pursue. And 0:23:19.280 --> 0:23:22.159 I wonder, how do I even frame this question? Do 0:23:22.280 --> 0:23:28.040 you think A? Do you think his impact can be felt? 0:23:29.280 --> 0:23:46.080 And B do you think it's enough? God dense questions? Um, 0:23:46.119 --> 0:23:51.960 I think that it's up to us. Two. I think 0:23:52.000 --> 0:23:55.080 it's up to us to allow his impact to be felt. 0:23:55.359 --> 0:24:00.520 And what I mean by that is, look, eventually, we 0:24:00.600 --> 0:24:03.160 can't be relying on Fred Rogers, especially after he's dead. 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:09.640 We have to be Fred Rodgers. I mean, we're grown up, 0:24:10.440 --> 0:24:12.399 you know, like I'm about to be forty. I was 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:14.960 watching Mr Rogers a kid. It's time for me to 0:24:14.960 --> 0:24:17.080 be Mr Rogers, you know, it's time for all of us, 0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:20.480 me Mr Rogers, especially now. It is crazy because if 0:24:20.560 --> 0:24:25.359 we don't, then we we we really are up Ship's Creek, 0:24:25.720 --> 0:24:29.159 you know, like we we are in a time right 0:24:29.200 --> 0:24:34.200 now where people are so cynical and scared and frankly 0:24:34.240 --> 0:24:37.400