It is my contention that most people are not mugged every day, that most people in this world do not encounter violence every day. I think we prepare people for violence, and I think it just as important that we prepare people for the definition of being gentle. … for so many years gentle has been equated with weakness but it requires more strength to be gentle. So it's the every day encounters of life that I think we prepare children for and prepare them to be good to other people and to consider other people.

NPR interview with Carl Kasell (1984) partly rebroadcast in "'Captain Kangaroo' Dies at 76" in All Things Considered (NPR) (23 January 2004)