I was watching morning cartoons on PBS with my daughter when Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood came on. In case you're unfamiliar, it's a cartoon about a little tiger who learns basic problem-solving skills and it is based on Mr. Roger's Neighborhood. Each episode has a small social problem (which are big problems for little ones) and the grown ups teach the children a short song to remember the lesson on how to solve the problem. This morning the lesson was on empathy.

So Daniel Tiger is playing with his friend, O the little owl, and he starts banging on the toys loudly. O covers his ears and gets upset but Daniel hardly notices because he is having a great time making a racket. Mom comes in and explains to Daniel that O just doesn't like the loud noise.

Daniel exclaims, "But I like it."

Mom calmly asks, "Can you think of a time something was too loud for you?" He thought of a time and mom asked, "How did it make you feel?"

Daniel replied, "It upset me."

"Okay, well this noise is loud and it upsets O." Then mom says, "Try to feel empathy. That means.." she sings, "Think about how someone else is feeling, Maybe you can help them feel better."

It was simple and meant for children; but as I watched this episode with my little girl it hit me that I had just been reading several posts from a Facebook group in which people shared holiday traditions and got bombarded with other people's opinions and judgments. I couldn't help but think about how we as adults need to be reminded of what empathy means and how to practice it.

I thought about how our current culture is complicating old-fashioned common sense, morality, and decency. Then I thought about how wise Mr. Rogers really was when he fought to keep altruism's on the airwaves to make the world a little brighter, and his legacy lives on.

In 2017 we seem to dismiss old-fashioned altruism and try to reinvent the wheel. Then we debate over the wheel. For example, my generation has grown up being taught that "we have a right to our opinion." That used to sound like a good thing, but now I see how we are so entitled to our opinions that we neglect to think before express them. Now we have "trigger warnings" and may be reprimanded if we express our opinions.

It's a lot easier to remember "empathy" than it is to juggle "trigger warnings" and "the right to an opinion." If you think about others first, the rest falls into place.

So be like Daniel Tiger and you might help others (and yourself) feel better.