Pulaski 1
Christine Pulaski
Ms. Pulaski
English 9
14 January 2015
Mother Teresa
“Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” (Plato, Philosopher, and mathematician of classical Greece). “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”(Mother Teresa). In other words, one never knows how someone feels, or is, until one walks a mile in another person’s shoes. I am referred to as the “Saint of the Gutters.” I am a tiny woman who grew up in Albania. My original name was Agnes Bojaxhiu. My dad was murdered when I was seven. Instead of becoming politically active, I immigrated to Ireland to become a nun in the order of the Sisters of Loreto convent. From Ireland, I was sent to Bengal and after 17 years as a teacher in Calcutta, I took a 400-mile train trip to Darjeeling. I was told to do this because I had been working too hard. I had it rough growing up, but I always had a roof over my head, and most often I had food on the table. In other words, I did not go to bed starving. Therefore, when I took that journey to Darjeeling and saw the poverty before me, I knew I had to do something about the poorest of the poor, the sick and dying and the beggars and street children! I tried to put myself in another person’s shoes.
I founded a new missionary community of 13 members. For me, 13 was a lucky number and not an unlucky number. My order turned into a global order with over 4,000 sisters running orphanages and AIDS hospices. I tried my best to minister to the poor, by giving them food, and shelter. I held the sick and dying (mostly lepers)and tried to give them peace of mind. I listened to the needs of the beggars and children and tried to meet those needs.
I received the Nobel Peace Prize for my efforts with the poor and needy. I really don’t think I deserved it, because I was just doing what anyone should do. I was trying to understand how other people feel. Some people think I am sanctimonious, but I am just like anyone else. At one point, I lost faith in God and the value of my work. I think this too is what many people must experience. I was not always the faithful person I should have been; I just tried to be altruistic/selfless to the best of my ability.
The world might be a more compassionate, understanding, accepting, peaceful and closer to Utopia place if we all just thought about how others might feel before we affected them in a negative manner. Maybe just like Mother Teresa, we should all reconsider “The Golden Rule – Do onto others as you would have them do onto you!”
Putting oneself in Mother Teresa or anyone’s shoes and realizing one should be kind to everyone can sometimes be a difficult battle. Sometimes, people who have difficult lives can act out and treat others badly because they have been treated badly. But, one has to realize that they are fighting a hard battle. Maybe if one helps a suffering person, life might not be a Utopia for them, but it may look a little brighter and make a goal a little more tangible. If that person can forget about the hunger for a moment, s/he might be able to think about how to motivate and to self-actualize. Some people say that they can’t love others unless they love themselves, but it is not a static flow. It is a fluid flow. One cannot love others unless one loves oneself and one cannot love oneself unless one loves others. Therefore, one might change one’s actions and love others and not just oneself if one just thinks of the quote “Be kind, everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” (Plato, Philosopher, and mathematician of classical Greece). “If you judge people, you have no time to love them.” (Mother Teresa).