Fred Rogers, the beloved television entertainer and icon, touched the lives of millions of
children with his popular show, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. From the beginning of his career
in 1951, to his death in 2003, Mister Rogers taught whole generations of children to believe
that they were important and special, just the way they are.
"I like you exactly the way you are."
Above all, Mister Rogers was about love, which he demonstrated in many ways. But there was
one way in particular that was extremely unusual: by keeping his weight to an exact 143 pounds
for his entire adult life.
Why?
Rogers, of course, showed compassion toward all living things, not just human beings.
He was a strict vegetarian for reasons to do with animal welfare, and he also abstained
from other vices like smoking, drinking, and sleeping in too late. Biography notes that
he woke around 5:30 a.m. every day to pray, read the Bible, and swim laps before his workday
began, because he was very weight-conscious.
According to the Fred Rogers Center, he was overweight as a child and suffered from asthma,
factors which made him a target for his peers' bullying and teasing. But though that experience
made him compassionate and empathetic towards the struggles of children, it wasn't what
caused him to fixate on his weight as an adult.
Instead, Rogers focused on keeping his weight at a steady 143 pounds, because he believed
that number displayed a special pattern that corresponded to the word "love." In 1998,
he told Esquire,
"[...] the number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four letters
to say 'love' and three letters to say 'you.' One hundred and forty-three. 'I love you.'
Isn't that wonderful?"
"I is one letter, and love - L-O-V-E is four letters, and you, Y-O-U, is three letters!"
And there was also an episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood in which he gave a special coded
message to his "Speedy Delivery" Man, Mr. McFeely. Just as McFeely was about to leave,
Mister Rogers gave him a note with the number 143 written on it and explained the symbolism.
"One, four, three."
"This is a kind of code that we've just found out about!"
He told the kids watching,
"Explaining things is another way of saying, 'I love you.' And coming back to visit each
day is yet another way. Oh, there's so many ways, you'll find them. You'll find them as
you grow. Many ways to say 143."
And when he talked about those ways, he sure meant it. Little did his television audience
know that Mister Rogers was so dedicated to living that "I love you" life that he didn't
even sleep in or watch TV himself so that he could maintain that 143-pound figure to
constantly tell the world he loved it.
Mister Rogers once said,
"Imagine what our real neighbors would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of
course, just one kind word to another person."
His home state of Pennsylvania has taken that message to heart, and in 2019, Governor Tom
Wolf declared May 23 — the 143rd day of the year — to be Pennsylvania's "first statewide
day of kindness." Wolf announced the establishment of 1-4-3 Day in a tweet, saying,
"As governor, I've met countless Pennsylvanians. And I know we're genuinely nice people. Join
me in spreading love today and seeing just how far a little kindness can go."
In a move that Mister Rogers would call love, Wolf explained to his fellow Pennsylvanians
how to celebrate 1-4-3 Day with a three-step infographic. He invited his constituents to
embrace Mister Rogers' spirit of kindness, to perform acts of kindness for their neighbors,
and to help spread the love on social media with the hashtag #143DayInPA.
So while you may not weigh exactly 143 pounds, anyone can still spread Mister Rogers' message
of love and kindness next May 23 (or better yet, every day of the year).
As the cardiganed man himself would say:
"There are many ways to show and tell people that you love them."
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