After Pittsburgh fired in Mr. Rogers' real neighborhood, Squirrel Hill's neighbors follow his example

Just a few blocks from Pittsburgh's Tree of Life Synagogue, strikingly close to the horrific scene where 11 worshipers were slaughtered at the Saturday services, is the home where Fred Rogers once lived.

It's the same Fred Rogers who created the fictional PBS show "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" for generations of children, a place that has paid homage to humanity in all its colors and manifestations.

On his show, Fred Rogers sang about acceptance and constantly told his audience, "I'm glad you're what you are." He opposed the kind of unhealthy thought that led to Saturday's massacre.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters

The community of Squirrel Hill, now in mourning, was Fred Rogers real-life neighborhood.

And if he was here today – Rogers died in 2003 – it's easy to imagine him finding a hint of hope, calm or meaning in what happened to his former neighbors, because that's what that he did in difficult times.

"I'm so proud of you all," Rogers told his viewers on the first anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "And I know how difficult it is, some days, to watch with hope and trust months and years to come. "

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And later in life, he shared something his mother had told him about going through times like this.

"Whenever there would be a real disaster, she would say," Always look for assistants, "he said in an interview in 1999." There will always be assistants on the sidelines . "

And how that would warm Rogers' heart to see "the assistants" manifest in his old neighborhood.

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No matter where you come from, we are glad you are our neighbor.

The assistants like Dr. Jeffery Cohen – who left his synagogue from the tree of life to hastily go to his home.

"I went down and I said [to first responders]"Can I help you? If someone is injured and you need someone, I'm a surgeon, I can go and help, "Cohen told ABC News.

In the end, Cohen could not do much on the stage. Today, while he was crying over the friends he had lost, he called on the leaders of the nation to act.

ABC News

"I think it's time for the leaders to stand up and lead and be the assistants," he said.

"I'm not saying one camp is worse than the other, but I'm not saying either side is better than the other. It's all of us, "he added.

This message, "it's all of us," was echoed by one of Pittsburgh's Muslim leaders, Wasi Mohamed, who publicly joined mourning on Sunday, to offer his community's support. because he remembers the families of Jewish victims who stood alongside the Pittsburgh Muslims. in difficult times, especially just after 9/11.

"We love this community, they have done so much here," said Mohamed, executive director of the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh and Engage Pennsylvania.

"If they need financial support, they need people to come forward to protect them during their services, to get to the grocery store, that's it." what they do and we have to pay them back.

"And all we can do to make ourselves feel safer, make sure that the darkness of a person does not make them feel unwelcome in this city."

People also queued to give blood, many saying that they just wanted to do something – help.

"The patience people have today – waiting to give blood is Pittsburgh, their community," said Kristen Lane, spokesman for the Vitalts Pittsburgh blood bank.

"They say," All right, I'm not going to get angry, I'm not going to get frustrated, I'm just going to take the time to donate blood and replenish the stock used by the victims of the terrible shooting.

Lana Ramsey, one of the blood donors, wore a t-shirt with a Fred Rogers saying: "I'll be your neighbor".

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"Time is not really a commodity I have, but I can donate blood, it's the least I can do to help," she said.

"So I thought I'd call my boss this morning. I said, "My heart is broken for my city and I have to go do something." She said, "Go, go, do what you have to do."

A nearby house had a sign that captured the spirit of Fred Rogers.

"No matter where you come from, we are happy that you are our neighbor," suggesting that people here know where they live … in a real neighborhood.

Cathal McNaughton / Reuters