Making goodness attractive

An interesting way to read the Bible is to pay attention to recurring numbers in its pages. Numerology devotees will point to the numbers three (Trinity), four (Four horsemen of the apocalypse in Revelations chapter 6), seven (Seven seals of Revelation), 12 (12 tribes of Israel; 12 apostles), and 40 (40 days and nights of fasting for Jesus; 40 years of Israelite wandering in the wilderness). The suggestion -- and I am persuaded this is correct -- is that the numbers are not simply literal. For example, you choose twelve apostles because the number represents an adequate number of close confidants to share Jesus' life and to witness his resurrection. You choose forty because it represents enough time to see something through to completion.

Here's another number: 143. You won't find it in the Bible yet the figure stands for a sentiment fully supported by the testimony of the Old and New Testaments. Those who followed a certain television personality on public television for 30+ years may well recognize the number's significance.

The late Fred Rogers, of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" fame, used the number on a model streetcar on his long-running PBS program. More about the number later. Rogers is the subject of an entertaining documentary still playing in theaters: "Won't You Be My Neighbor?"

Rogers was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania -- which is also my place of origin. I've been to WQED-TV, where Rogers taped his shows from 1968-2000. I was even on the air there in the mid-to-late 1980s, taking part in the on-air pledge campaigns which are part-and-parcel of public TV existence. I never saw Fred Rogers in any of my visits, but his spirit seemed to be infused into the walls of the studios. You could almost sense his simply-made puppets talking. You could nearly hear streetcars running on a toy track. It was a more humane place because Mister Rogers ministered to kids there.

Rogers was an unabashedly gentle man. One of his sons, commenting in the aforementioned documentary, in a knowing aside, said it was hard to have a dad who was like a "second Christ."

And Rogers had courage. When the Nixon Administration tried to cut millions of dollars from public broadcasting, the children's show host went to Capitol Hill in 1969 to lobby Congress to preserve it. The chair of the committee conducting the hearing, Senator John Pastore, looked wearily at Rogers as he began his testimony. The Rhode Island legislator had listened previously to several funding advocates and he'd already made up his mind; he was going to vote to cut funding. Rogers had prepared a written statement but put it aside and spoke from the heart for just over five minutes about his love for kids. He spoke earnestly and sincerely and won Pastore over. At the end of Rogers' time before the panel, Pastore appeared to wipe away tears and told the mild-mannered seminary-trained host that he'd just saved the $20 million Congress was planning to eliminate.

In the documentary, Mister Rogers mused that he wished for a day in which "goodness was attractive" to people. What a different world we live in today than the one for which Rogers longed, eh, reader?

Back to the number 143. Each number on the show stood for a certain number of letters.

1 -- "I."

4 -- "Love."

3 -- "You."

Tell someone "143" this week. When they ask you what it means, answer. It's your chance to make goodness attractive.