Dear Mr. VP,

I spent the last week reading about the Aryan Nations, and Patriot militias, and the Posse Comitatus, and in a stew of anxiety. I needed a brain bleach, which I found in the new documentary about Mr. Rogers.

I grew up watching Mr. Rogers every day, so part of the catharsis here is just a comforting childhood memory.

Part of it is that I’m so impressed, now that I parent my own child and have also spent time in the classroom with young kids, that Fred Rogers always seems unhurried and genuinely interested in the children with whom he is interacting. That’s not always easy. It takes a very special kind of person.

Part of it is that it’s nice to be reminded that we are all deserving of love, just the way we are. It’s easy to forget, sometimes, that we are likeable.

But part of it is that in a world in which we have a bully for a president and I spend every day in a cynical funk, it’s nice to be reminded that there are genuinely nice people in the world.

D