MAKING MY POINT

Look at the picture.

- Of the people you see in the picture, tell me ONE NAME of the person in the picture. Can you tell me what you know about the person/ which person you know better or heard more about ?

- Among the two people, who do you want to be if you could choose one?

This picture shows Princess Diana walks with Mother Teresa after a private meeting at a convent in the Bronx, New York, in June 1997. The two women died within days of each other less than two months later.

a) Princess Diana: 31st Aug 1997
More than one million people lined the streets of London to say goodbye to Princess Diana at her funeral. A further 2.5 billion people worldwide watched the Princess Diana funeral on television.

b) Mother Teresa: Sept 5 1997
About 15,000 people attended the service at Netaji indoor stadium in Calcutta.

Just look at the numbers, you can do the 'critical thinking' and 'make inferences' of what I need to tell you. And read the conversation below:

a) X: Do you know Diana died? I read in the papers...
Y: Yeah, it was on the news.... They will show her funeral live on tv you know

b)X: Eh, You know Mother Teresa died yesterday...
Y: Who is Mother Teresa? :-l ?

:( WHY? TELL ME WHY ?!



MY STORY

Just finished watching "Mother Teresa", or rather "Madre Teresa". Finally I get to watch it after 'searching' for it for quite some time. I initially wanted to find a documentary about her to screen it in my class but all effort was in vain. So my boss passed me the "Mind Your Language" dvds to screen instead (ok u think I've gone nuts bringing irrelevant details, no, wait... :p !).

You know the previews of other movies on dvd? One of the previews on the Mind Your Language dvd was actually the trailer for the movie Mother Teresa! I tried to search for it but it was not mainstream*. So I know I wouldn't be able to find it in time for my class. Weeks later, I found it at a very unusual place- Bookfest (Chinese books exhibition :P!)It was very heartening to watch the life story of someone who willingly suffered for the benefits of others.

*Apparently, it was produced by Lux Vide for Italian TV, not some Hollywood big-budget movie. Sad, huh? Even fictional character sell better than real life saint! How many people are excited to watch "Memoirs of Geisha"? How many people are excited to watch "Mother Teresa"?



MY THOUGHTS

Mother Teresa was criticised for her fund management and source, her approach, her "encouragement of sacramental baptism being performed on the dying" (Come on la, she's a Catholic Nun, hello!!), the medical care provided at the homes (erm, those people are NUNS, not doctors :P, hello!!) and etc. She's just a nun, a normal person, a human being, give her a break and give her some credit la. How many people would go help EVEN ONE sick/ poor/ homeless person and live among the poor for EVEN ONE DAY.

Luckily no one can deny that she actually helped a lot of people. In 1982, Mother Teresa persuaded Israelis and Palestinians, who were in the midst of a skirmish, to cease fire long enough to rescue 37 mentally-handicapped patients from a besieged hospital in Beirut.Mother Teresa traveled to help the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia. Her Order of Charity now covers 5 continents, feeds 500,000 families and helps 90,000 lepers every years.

"In fighting for the dignity of the destitute in a foreign land, she gave the world a moral example that bridged divides of culture, class and religion" ( from Time 100- People of the Century)

I especially like how the movie end, with the Prayer of Peace composed by St. Francis of Assisi, spoken by different characters in the movie. This prayer was included in her acceptant speech on 10 December. She accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979 "in the name of the poor".

Lord, make a channel of Thy peace that,
where there is hatred, I may bring love;
that where there is wrong, I may bring the spirit of forgiveness;
that, where there is discord, I may bring harmony;
that, where there is error, I may bring truth;
that, where there is doubt, I may bring faith;
that, where there is despair, I may bring hope;
that, where there are shadows, I may bring light;
that, where there is sadness, I may bring joy.

Lord, grant that I may seek rather to comfort than to be comforted,
to understand than to be understood;
to love than to be loved;
for it is by forgetting self that one finds; it is forgiving that one is forgiven;
it is by dying that one awakens to eternal life


This reminds me of Prayer to Give Aid by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama:

May I become at all times, both now and forever
A protector for those without protection
A guide for those who have lost their way
A ship for those with oceans to cross
A bridge for those with rivers to cross
A sanctuary for those in danger
A lamp for those without light
A place of refuge for those who lack shelter
And a servant to all in need

*I bow to all compassionate beings, regardless of your nationality/ culture/ tradition/ religion/ non-religion, who take on the responsibilities to aid others without expecting anything in return*