Fred Rogers wanted just one thing from us, and it never cost our parents a penny:
Friendship.
When he walked through the front door of his TV-studio home, smiling warmly from ear to ear, we smiled back.
When he sang that beautiful, catchy melody - sometimes off-key, but forever in tune with the mind of a child - we sang with him.
And when he asked us if we would join him for just a half-hour of the day, as if our participation was as vital to him as the air he breathed, we always, happily, appeased him with a resounding "Yes!"
So it is today when we mourn his loss - respectfully and eternally "Mister Rogers," who died Wednesday at the age of 74.
Although his show, "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood," filmed its last episode nearly two years ago after 34 years on the Public Broadcasting Service, it has endured for a very long time.
Rogers' Neighborhood of Make-Believe was always a place we wished we could be, riding along in the Neighborhood Trolley to pay a visit to Mr. McFeely or Mr. Speedy Delivery; carrying on conversations with Daniel the Striped Tiger and King Friday the 13th. We dreamed of growing up and decorating our homes with stoplights and a plethora of aquariums.
Most importantly, our parents knew Mister Rogers' message of unconditional love would be the most enlightening lesson he could teach us.
"His primary goal was making kids feel good about themselves," said Joe Campbell, the program director of KAET Channel 8. "The impact that he had on kids and adults was that after watching 'Mister Rogers,' everyone cared about everyone else in the world.
"I think that he wanted us all to tell one person that we liked them just the way they are."
It's a message you can find in many other children's shows of today - but only if you look and listen hard enough. Somewhere in between the plug for "Teletubbies" trading cards and "Barney" videotapes, love can be heard only as a faint whisper.
For Mister Rogers, love and understanding were the cornerstones of the show.
He was the kind of man who we often wish had been in positions of power. We jokingly ponder what kind of a world it would be if Mister Rogers were making foreign policy decisions, setting the agenda of nationwide educational standards or weighing in on that home loan we so desperately need.
"Just pay me back when you get a chance, neighbor," he would have said.
"Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" is still on the air, which means it's never too late to learn the lessons he taught for more than three decades.
It's the least we could do for a man who asked for so little from us.
