A thread on war, peace, and #MisterRogers:
In January of 1968, Ho Chi Minh launched the Tet Offensive, a massive, surprise, coordinated attack that mobilized 84,000 troops against cities and villages across South Vietnam. (1/10)
In January of 1968, Ho Chi Minh launched the Tet Offensive, a massive, surprise, coordinated attack that mobilized 84,000 troops against cities and villages across South Vietnam. (1/10)
As news of the offensive broke in the United States, CBS anchor Walter Cronkite voiced the nation's confusion and anger saying, "What the hell is going on? I thought we were winning the war." (2/10)
Though the assault was eventually and technically a military loss, it made abundantly clear to Americans that the war wasn't winding down, despite their leaders' assurances. They were still deeply immersed in a widely unpopular war that would continue for years. (3/10)
Three weeks after the Tet Offensive, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood aired nationally for the first time. Rogers, who was a pacifist, had crafted, for his first week of national programming, a five-episode arc all about war and peace. (4/10)
On Monday, big changes come to the Neighborhood of Make Believe. By Tuesday, the king has erected a border fence and conscripted a border guard. On Wednesday, formerly trusted residents of the kingdom are personally hurt by the king's violence-inducing suspicions. (5/10)
By Thursday, everyone's movements–all comings and goings, even Mister Rogers' own comings and goings–are tracked. By Friday, Neighborhood peacemakers have made a plan, but it's almost thwarted when the king calls for cannons to be fired. (6/10)
Here's the key: the cause of war, for Mister Rogers and his Neighborhood, was fear. The cause of fear, for Mister Rogers and his Neighborhood, was change. (7/10)
Consider taking a break from news coverage and heading over to Amazon Prime, where you can watch the full, five-episode series. It's fifty-two years old, and it's still wise and daring and true. amazon.com/First-Week-Pro… (8/10)
Then: 1) Consider how you can help the children in your life learn how to manage change, which is inevitable. Children who learn–with the guidance of loving adults–to move through and with the discomforts of change don't grow into adults who make war when they're afraid. (9/10)
And 2) consider what changes elicit fear in you. What do you do with your fear? How does fear move you toward violence? How can you learn, even now, even as an adult, how to move gracefully through change, through the fear it sometime causes, in ways that lead to peace? (10/10)
