If you don’t already know why the number 143 was so significant to Fred Rogers, then May 23 will be your day to learn.
To get you up to speed, the beloved children’s show host loved the number because it was a sort of code for “I love you” — with one letter in “I,” four in “love,” and three in “you.”
As part of a statewide mission to get Pennsylvanians to be better to each other, Philly.com reports Gov. Tom Wolf will declare May 23 — the 143rd day of the year — as “143 Day in Pennsylvania.” It’s being labeled as a day of statewide kindness, with a planned social media campaign.
“We’re really hoping this is going to be a statewide movement, to inspire kindness and neighborly deeds,” Carrie Fischer Lepore, the state’s deputy secretary of marketing, tourism, and film, told Philly.com.
The number was very special to the Latrobe native, says Karen Struble Myers, associate director and director of development with the Fred Rogers Center in Latrobe.
“He was made of love,” Struble Myers says. “The celebration of 143 Day is a reminder to love your neighbors — in the community and in the neighborhood of humanity.”
His widow, Joanne Rogers, was recently on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to explain.
Lepore said all state agencies will mark the “143 Day” campaign on social media by changing their logos and pushing use of #143DayinPA on Twitter and Facebook. In case you need ideas for good deeds, you can use the planned online “kindness generator” to find the perfect random act of kindness.
“This is not about trying to inspire travel,” Lepore told Philly.com. “This is purely about trying to inspire kindness and gratitude and love for our neighbors.”
