Last night in the shower, I broke out into song, unexpectedly as I never sing in the shower. The song that couldn't hold itself back was none other than the Mr. Rogers song. For those of you who do not know or remember, the lyrics go like this:
It's such a good feeling to know you're alive.
It's such a happy feeling: You're growing inside.
And when you wake up ready to say,
'I think I'll make a snappy new day.'
It's such a good feeling, a very good feeling,
The feeling you know that we're friends.
Fred Rogers is definitely a role model of mine. I grew up with Mr. Rogers and now that I am older, I look back fondly on my time spent with the soft-spoken host and do not recall there being a television screen between us. Mr. Rogers really believed in children, in the innate good nature of humans. In Buddhism, we call that nature Buddha nature. Mr. Rogers was a major supporter of healthy families, knowing that healthy families create a healthy country. I see that here in Japan where the children are the focus, where adults willingly sacrifice for the sake of the family knowing that their children will in turn sacrifice for the next generation.
But back to the song and in particular that very first line. This is something we forget as we go about our days. We might remember it with a few glasses of wine or on a roller coaster ride but we cannot carry it in the front of our mind as we go about our regular routines. So my mantra today will be just that: "It's such a good feeling to know you're alive". I want to see how far it will take me today.
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