Politics

Mother Theresa

We all have our own heroes, people we admire and respect, people who made an impact on our life, that made us look at the world with a different eye, Mother Teresa is definitely the one for me.

Although the world is full of good people, great humanitarians that really care, people who donate billions of dollars, people who raise their voice to make a difference, Mother Teresa stands out in the crowd, she is unique.

"It is not how much we do, but how much love we put in the doing. It is not how much we give, but how much love we put in the giving." She dedicated every day of her adult life caring for "The dying, the crippled, the mentally ill, the unwanted, the unloved" and she loved every minute of it because she was loving, she was cleaning, feeding "Jesus in disguise." Yes, she fed them, sheltered them, cleaned their wounds, but what is more important is that she made them feel good, loved, and wanted. She gave them back their dignity that poverty had taken away from them and even if they died, they died with a smile on their face knowing that somebody loves them and somebody cares for them.

"Speak tenderly to them. Let there be kindness in your face, in your eyes, in your smile, in the warmth of your greeting. Always have a cheerful smile. Don't only give your care, but give your heart as well." Agreeing or disagreeing with her on abortion, population control, divorce, or how she raised the money should not shadow Mother Teresa's life-long contribution and dedication to the poor and humanity. To criticize someone, It's really easy... I suggest: stop criticizing her and do it better than she did.

II. Body A. Mother Teresa's Life Mother Teresa was born August 27, 1910, in Skopje, Macedonia, as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu from Albanian parents: Nikolle and Drandafille Bojaxhiu.

Her father was a successful and well known contractor, her mother was a housewife. She was the youngest of three children. Mother Teresa's family was a devoted catholic family. They prayed every evening and went to church almost everyday. It was her family's generosity, care for the poor and the less fortunate that made a great impact on young Mother Teresa's life.

By the age of 12, she had made up her mind, she realized that her vocation was aiding the poor. At age 18, she then decided to become a nun, and traveled to Dublin, Ireland, to join the Sisters of Loretto. After about a year in Ireland, she then leaves to join the Loretto convent in the northeast Indian city of Darjeeling, where she spends 17 years teaching and being principal of St. Mary's high school in Calcutta.

In 1946, Mother Teresa's life is changed forever. While riding a train to the mountain town of Darjeeling to recover from suspected tuberculosis, on the 10th of September, she said that she received a calling from God "to serve among the poorest of the poor." Less then a year later she gets permission from the Catholic Church to leave her order and move to Calcutta's slums to set up her first school. "Sister Agnes" who was a former student, becomes Mother Teresa's first follower. Others soon follow, and papal approval arrives to create a religious order of nuns called the Missionaries of Charity. The foundation is celebrated on Oct. 7 1950, the feast of the Holy Rosary. To identify herself with the poor she chooses to wear a plain white sari with a blue border and a simple cross pinned to her left shoulder. Their mission is as she would say when she accepted the Nobel peace prize: "to care for the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone." With the help of Calcutta officials she converts a portion of the abandoned temple to Kali, the Hindu goddess of death and destruction into Kalighat Home for the Dying, where even the poorest people would die with dignity. Soon after she opens up Nirmal Hriday ("Pure Heart"), a home for the dying, and Shanti Nagar (Town of Peace), a leper colony and later her first orphanage.

Mother Teresa and the sisters continued opening houses all over India caring for the poor, washing their wounds, soothing their sores, making them feel wanted. But her order's work spread across the world after 1965, when Pope Paul VI granted Mother Teresa's request to globally expand her order.

Whether it was in Ethiopia feeding the hungry, the ghettos of South Africa or it was her native country Albania when the communist regime collapsed, Calcutta's Mother Teresa "the living saint" was there. In 1982, at the height of the siege in Beirut she convinced the parties to stop the war so she could rescue 37 sick children trapped inside. Mother Teresa became a symbol of untiring commitment to he poor and suffering. She was probably the most admired women of all time, receiving so many rewards and prices for her outstanding work and she used her reputation traveling all over the world raising money and support for her causes.

In 1962, she received the Pandma Shri prize for "extraordinary services." In 1971, Pope Paul VI honors Mother Teresa by awarding her the first Pope John XXXIII Peace Prize. In 1972, the Government of India presents her with the Jawaharlel Nehru Award for International Understanding.