# Who in your lifetime do you think was/is a bodhisattva/saint? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 18, 2010, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529 "2010-10-18T04:16:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Agent\_Foxtrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc29f/32.png) [@Agent\_Foxtrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Agent_Foxtrot)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/21 "2010-10-18T16:38:53Z")
Pope John Paul II, and I’m not even Catholic. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/22 "2010-10-18T18:04:46Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > Obama? He can’t be the Messiah, the Antichrist, \*and \*a saint, can He? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/23 "2010-10-18T19:27:25Z")
> [@aruvqan](#): > > Well, so did I. Sorry, but he struck me as amazingly smarmy, and it would really not surprise me if someone unearthed some sort of evidence he was a pedophile. > > The people that I know that interact best with children of all ages talk to them as if they were normal people. Not slowing stuff down, and dumbing stuff down. He didn’t - that’s the way he talked to everyone. Dude took his time, is all. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/24 "2010-10-18T19:31:57Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There is no such thing as either a bodhisattva or a saint (or a soul). > > I always got a molester vibe off Mr. Rogers. What on earth is wrong with you? ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/25 "2010-10-18T19:44:15Z")
It’s a decent person detector test. Think of it like litmus paper. ETA - Or a lot of people who don’t have a good opinion of him haven’t sat down and watched the show since they were six years old, of course. Or read anything about him. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/26 "2010-10-18T20:03:44Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It’s a decent person detector test. Think of it like litmus paper. Maybe. I didn’t think it when I was a kid, not knowing (thankfully) what a “child molester” was, but I can see now why some might get that vibe from him, initially. Soft-spoken guy, kind of effete, dedicated to being around children. I don’t think he \*was \*a pedo, and it’s unfortunate that our suspicions are primed by the behavior of so many other sick fucks (and probably some good-old-fashioned media-fueled hysteria), but if he was a neighbor who wanted to take my kid camping, I think I’d have some reservations. I mainly remember thinking of him as a nice guy with a show that was pretty boring, basically filler for me to stare at between Sesame Street and The Electric Company. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/27 "2010-10-19T03:15:01Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It’s a decent person detector test. Think of it like litmus paper. > > ETA - Or a lot of people who don’t have a good opinion of him haven’t sat down and watched the show since they were six years old, of course. Or read anything about him. Sorry, I have 6 goddaughters [currently between the ages of 23 {holy shit:eek:} and 5] so I have _many_ years of watching kids TV programming with them, including plenty of Mr Rogers. Dude is creepy, and neither the kids mom nor I would leave any of the girls alone with him for 5 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/28 "2010-10-19T03:39:38Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > It’s a decent person detector test. Think of it like litmus paper. > > ETA - Or a lot of people who don’t have a good opinion of him haven’t sat down and watched the show since they were six years old, of course. Or read anything about him. I have kids and have seen the show recently and frequently. What really creeped me out, though, was seeing him once on Larry King. He was so obsequious, and ingratiating and smarmy and (to mind mind) carefully controlled and phony that he just set off my creep-dar. There was something off about the guy. I didn’t trust him. Maybe he wasn’t a pedophile, but there was something weird about him – like “it puts the lotion on its skin” weird. ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/29 "2010-10-19T04:15:40Z")
> [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](#): > > There was something off about the guy. Maybe he was a fellow attention whore and it bothered you? ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/30 "2010-10-19T04:45:14Z")
> [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](#): > > Maybe he was a fellow attention whore and it bothered you? You’re not in the Pit, bro, and I didn’t attack you or anybody else. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/31 "2010-10-19T05:01:12Z")
I don’t have an answer to the OP, but some of your responses are just . . . scary. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/32 "2010-10-19T05:07:19Z")
> [@Sattua](#): > > ..she seems to have raised a somewhat disturbed child. **Grub** Goodall was obviously traumatized.. I think I see the \*first \*place where she went wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/33 "2010-10-19T05:11:59Z")
For what it’s worth, I always got a Chester Molestor vibe off Freddy Rogers, too. There are a lot of people I idolize/idealize; FDR, Lincoln, Jefferson, Gandhi, Gautama Buddha, Carl Sagan, Mark Twain, Douglas Adams, Howard Stern, Barack Obama, Robert Ingersoll, Jorge Luis Borges, Jonas Salk, even Jesus of Nazareth more and more lately. But deep down I know they were all imperfect men. Similarly, the “saint”/“bodhisattva” in my lifetime was my grandpa. Listen to that song by Randy Travis where he says “I thought that he walked on water”-- that’s how I feel about him. But I know he wasn’t perfect. I was talking to one of his sisters recently, who also basically worshiped him, and she said something very candid, unexpected, and honest to me. She said: son, your grandpa was a great man, a great brother, and a great grandfather, but he wasn’t a great dad. Nobody’s perfect. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/34 "2010-10-19T05:18:55Z")
I am surprised and a little bit saddened that so many people find Mr. Rogers to be such a scary person. I thought the personality he exhibited on the show was full of compassion, love and kindness. I never caught anything creepy or perverted from the way he talked or how he interacted with the world around him. It was different, absolutely. He had a slow, deliberate way of speaking; words were fully enunciated and a lot of thought seemed to be put into each sentence, whether he was talking to the audience or a friend on the show. I found this slow pace to be calming and it always gave me a warm positive feeling. Until Colbert spoke to congress I never found anything nearly as awesome or touching as Fred Rogers speaking up at congress to defend PBS. [Here](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXEuEUQIP3Q)is a link to a video of the event. ---
**Author:** ![Redpill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/58956e/32.png) [@Redpill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redpill)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/35 "2010-10-19T05:31:21Z")
Easy Saint test: Go up to the person and ask him to give you his most expensive/prized possession. Don’t give a reason. If he/she just gives it to you no questions asked, he/she is probably a saint. All else is just talk. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/36 "2010-10-19T05:34:51Z")
I think it says more about us as a society that we think Mr. Rogers is molestery. You know, older guy who likes to hang out or associate with kids, seems “different”…“AH, PEDOPHILE!” What was disturbed about Grub Goodall? Googling, the only evidence of him being disturbed I found was this thread. ---
**Author:** ![blue\_infinity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blue_infinity/32/2817_2.png) [@blue\_infinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blue_infinity)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 10:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/37 "2010-10-19T10:57:05Z")
Ok, I found some [stuff](http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3724/is_200206/ai_n9130751/). > [@](#): > > Goodall’s own son, Grub, was terrorised by a chimp called Flint in the 1970s. Grub **spent much of his childhood in a cage** for protection and grew up loathing chimps so much that today he’s a shark fisherman. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/38 "2010-10-19T13:07:48Z")
Because sharks are the chimp’s natural enemy? ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/39 "2010-10-19T13:34:30Z")
On the other hand, this People Magazine article makes it sound like he enjoyed being able to tease the chimps from the safety of the cage: > [@](#): > > One year later, Goodall married Hugo van Lawick, with whom she had her only child, Hugo, nicknamed “Grub.” Goodall took six years off from field trips after Grub was born to spend time with her child. Nevertheless, he developed a teasing, antagonistic rivalry with the chimps and often had to be kept in a big wire cage for his own protection. “If you raise your eyebrows and stare at them, it’s like a threat,” Grub once explained. “Of course, if you’re safe in a cage it’s quite fun—they will come and bang on it. But they remember you, and when they see you outside, they will come for you.” Grub had to be rescued several times before being shipped off to an English boarding school at age 9. Though today he works with his father filming Serengeti wildlife, he still avoids apes. [http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20117644,00.html](http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20117644,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![lavenderviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/cdc98d/32.png) [@lavenderviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lavenderviolet)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2010, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529/40 "2010-10-19T13:46:54Z")
In response to the OP, I agree with the nomination of Mr. Rogers. I remember being very impressed with what I read about Mr. Rogers in the book [“I’m Proud of You”](http://www.amazon.com/Im-Proud-You-Friendship-Rogers/dp/B000YT7KVE). He does seem like a very caring, intelligent person who wanted to bring out the best in others. Even though we are used to being suspicious of men who seem to like hanging around children too much, I don’t see any actual evidence that in Mr. Rogers’s case that his affection for children was anything creepy. At first I was wondering if his one flaw might be a failed marriage in his youth or something like that but now that I’ve looked him up I see that he was married to the same woman for 51 years. It would be interesting to know if anyone who actually did know him personally had a problem with him. From everything I know of him, he does seem pretty close to sainthood. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-in-your-lifetime-do-you-think-was-is-a-bodhisattva-saint/557529.md?page=3)