Fred Rogers, of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood, embodied the principle James describes in chapter 2. Rogers was an ordained Presbyterian minister who believed television could be a ministry of kindness. In every episode, he’d feed the fish and say, “I’m feeding the fish now.” When a child once asked why, he explained that a blind fan had written to him, worried the fish might be hungry because she couldn’t see him feeding them. That small act of awareness turned compassion into action. Like James, Rogers showed that faith is not merely believed but also lived in a quiet, faithful presence that served others in tangible ways (Maxwell King, The Good Neighbor: The Life and Work of Fred Rogers [West Edmeston, NY: Abrams Press, 2018], 215).
