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Executive Times |
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2007 Book Reviews |
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I’m Proud
of You by Tim Madigan |
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Rating: |
*** |
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(Recommended) |
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Click on
title or picture to buy from amazon.com |
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Friendship Tim Madigan’s
book, I’m
Proud of You, allows readers to eavesdrop on the friendship that
developed between the author and the late Fred Rogers, of Mr. Rogers’
Neighborhood fame. During the many troubles that Tim faced, he found a warmth
and friendship from Fred that affirmed, sustained, encouraged and supported
him. This is an unusual book, and I found myself teary and uncomfortable when
I read parts of it. I’m Proud
of You is full of hope and displays the goodness of friends. Here’s an
excerpt, from the beginning of Chapter 5, pp. 59-63: In late
summer of 1996, Fred wrote to say that he and I would soon have a chance to
take up our deepening friendship in person. “Tim, we’re going to Chicago Oct. 12 to be with Henri
(Nouwen) as he receives the Ronald McDonald Charities Award1 and,
we’ve decided to fly from there to Fort Worth the next day,” Fred wrote on
August 18. On the trip south, he and Joanne planned to visit one of their
longtime friends, the famous classical pianist and Fort Worth resident, Van
Cliburn. “Of course I want to see you and meet Catherine and have you both
get to know Joanne. I have no idea what Van will cook up, but Joanne has
already made a [hotel] reservation so the ball is beginning to roll. I so
look forward to being with you again.” It was
fitting that Nouwen should somehow figure in our reunion. He and Fred were
good friends who had corresponded regularly for years. (In one of his later
books, Sabbatical Journey, Nouwen
wrote of calling to console Fred after the death of Jim Stumbaugh. “At 6:00
P.M. I called Fred in Pittsburgh to tell him about our prayers for Jim. Fred
told me that he had just played on his piano all the songs he and Jim used to
sing together,” Nouwen wrote. “It was his way of mourning. He was truly
grateful for my call. On a day like this I marvel over the gift of
friendship.”) From my
first trip to Pittsburgh, the Dutch priest’s books had also been a regular
part of my daily spiritual reading, and frequently and appreciatively
mentioned in my own early correspondence with Fred. I was deeply moved by
how Nouwen wrote about the relationship between spirituality and human
brokenness, including his own. He was a man who had taught at Harvard and
Yale, and was among the world’s most widely read spiritual writers, but one
who wrote transparently about his own insecurity and loneliness, and who felt
most at home in the slums of Peru, or in the community of mentally handicapped
people near Toronto, where he had lived since the mid 1980s. “The
authentic spiritual life finds its basis in the human condition, which all
people—whether they are Christian or not—have in common,” Nouwen wrote once.
In another of his books, The Wounded
Healer, Nouwen wrote that a minister’s service “will not be perceived as
authentic unless it comes from a heart wounded by the suffering about which
he speaks . . . The great illusion of leadership is to think
that others can be led out of the desert by someone who has never been
there.” Nouwen, clearly, had been
there, which was one of the reasons Fred and I admired his work so much. In
fact, it was Fred who, in 1996, mailed me a copy of The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey Through Anguish to Freedom, calling
it one of the priest’s finest books because it was his “most personal, which
is often the most universal.” “This book is my secret
journal,” Nouwen wrote in the Introduction. “It was written during the most
difficult period of my life, from December 1987 to June 1988. That was a time
of extreme anguish, during which I wondered whether I would be able to hold
onto my life. Everything came crashing down— my self-esteem, my energy to
live and work, my sense of being loved, my hope for healing, my trust in God.
.
. everything. Here I was,
a writer about the spiritual life, known as someone who loves God and gives
hope to people, flat on the ground and in total darkness.” Which quite nearly
described my own emotional and spiritual state in the summer of 1996, Fred
knew, and my friend from Pittsburgh surely appreciated how Nouwen’s experience
would be a source of hope and healing for me. Nouwen, I would also learn, had
worked through a painful and complicated relationship with his own father.
Because we had so much in common, Fred said, he hoped to introduce the two of
us some day. “I hope for this
because I know Henri will be nourished by you just as you feel he has
enhanced your life,” Fred said. But Nouwen and I would
never meet, nor would Fred ever visit Fort Worth. In mid-September, 1 heard
Fred on my voice mail at work and received a short letter from him a few days
later. 9/18/96 Dear Tim, Tried calling both your office and home today. Maybe
you’re out of town. I may have sounded distraught. Anyway, Henri [Nouwen] had
a heart attack in Holland. He was just about to leave for Russia to make a
film about [one of his recent books] and got ill. He’s going to have to have
complete rest for quite a while so our
trip to Chicago—Fort Worth has been postponed indefinitely. Disappointed, but
grateful that something can be done about Henri’s health. MDs are trying
medication first to dissolve blood clot in lower quadrant. We had looked forward to being with you, meeting Catherine
and [the
children]—but we will another time. I know Henri would appreciate your prayers, Tim. Love, Fred, I.P.O.Y.
(I’m Proud of You) F A day later, Fred sent
me an autographed copy of Nouwen’s newest book, Can You Drink the Cup? His accompanying note sounded
uncharacteristically melancholy. We want
you to have one of these signed copies. (I had hoped to get you something
personally inscribed when we got together with Henri in Chicago, but of
course his heart cancelled that trip for all of us.) [Nouwen’s assistant] Sister Sue Mosteller called this morning
to say that Henri had been moved from ICU to [the] Cardiac Care Unit, so that’s a good sign. The MD says ‘slight heart
attack with some heart damage.” We had a visit with John Costa (our musical director on Mister Rogers’
Neighborhood) last evening. His liver
is giving him a lot of trouble. He hopes to be able to make the
October-November studio schedule. His MD told me that he doubts it very much…. So... We pray and continue to do our work, counting on God’s
grace to give each of us enough light to take the next steps of the journey. Joanne and I send our love to you, Catherine, Patrick and
Melanie. IPOY, Fred The letters in
I’m
Proud of You are an added gift to readers, and a way that Madigan has in
displaying the goodness of Fred Rogers to the rest of us. Steve Hopkins,
February 23, 2007 |
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·
2007 Hopkins and Company, LLC The recommendation rating for
this book appeared in the March 2007
issue of Executive Times URL for this review: http://www.hopkinsandcompany.com/Books/I'm
Proud of You.htm For Reprint Permission,
Contact: Hopkins & Company, LLC • 723 North Kenilworth Avenue • Oak Park,
IL 60302 E-mail: books@hopkinsandcompany.com |
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