Separating the meme from the individual. Mother Theresa

I'm sure everybody reading this sentence has this person's name imprinted in your memory. I do.

Mother Theresa. Performer of miracles and nearing sainthood. But who is Agnes Gonxha?

I have a somewhat deified image of "Mother Theresa" the meme. Altruism and sacrifice ---by a fragile human being for other fragile human beings. It appeals to humanism, which appeals to me. As it turns out, Agnes the person is very different than the meme. Above all, dogmatic and to a lesser extent, cruel, corrupt and a hypocrite. More like Ayn Rand.

As with so many things in this world, a meme born in an unknown place and in an unknown way silently worms it's way into our minds and sets up shop. Maybe this meme is comfortable and offers some reward to the host? For whatever reason, it remains resident and active in your mind to guide you on your way through life. Well memes can be disabled and deleted. I just deleted the Mother Theresa meme from my mind. Pop. Keep looking for altruism. You won't find it with this fiction.

I didn't wake up this morning wanting to blow up the Mother Theresa meme resident in my mind -- but it happened. Good riddance.

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Interesting. I already knew that she had lost her faith towards the end of her life, but this opens up even new lights. I will say that the myth of what Mother Teresa represents is inspiring, but the article makes a valid point in that where is the evidence of the net benefit of letting the myth remain?

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Leave her alone



How can you try to destroy her image.

Look how tiny she is!

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Well sory, if this does upset you, but honestly it is not really surprising, is it? After all she was a human being, of course she had flaws and it is not like she got out of bad one day and said:
"I will fool them all, become rich, famous and evetually holy- Booyah!"
She was a nun, she got a duty, she lived it, in the only way possible for her. I am pretty sure she was unhappy and suffering a lot for herself, but also in the position of overseeing hundreds of nuns and taking care of thousands of patients, with not a day off till she died. That's more than you and me will ever achieve. And if we would, we would do so deliberately and not because it is a task given to us from someone else. What she experienced is maybe the feeling of being a slave to old men dictating her life. Or a ton of million more explanations, because she was a NORMAL HUMAN! (not to yell, just emphasizing)

a reply to: Peeple

Human she may be, but this is unforgivable:

“At the time of her death, Mother Teresa had opened 517 missions welcoming the poor and sick in more than 100 countries. The missions have been described as “homes for the dying” by doctors visiting several of these establishments in Calcutta. Two-thirds of the people coming to these missions hoped to a find a doctor to treat them, while the other third lay dying without receiving appropriate care. The doctors observed a significant lack of hygiene, even unfit conditions, as well as a shortage of actual care, inadequate food, and no painkillers. The problem is not a lack of money—the Foundation created by Mother Teresa has raised hundreds of millions of dollars—but rather a particular conception of suffering and death: “There is something beautiful in seeing the poor accept their lot, to suffer it like Christ’s Passion. The world gains much from their suffering,” was her reply to criticism, cites the journalist Christopher Hitchens. Nevertheless, when Mother Teresa required palliative care, she received it in a modern American hospital.”

there was a documentary in the 19090s called Hells Angel. It discusses the more dark side of mother Teresa. . Make of it what you will. In one scene it compares mother Teresa's house of the dying with Belsen concentration camp.

a reply to: Krazysh0t

Ugh! It's almost like a pet hoarder who loves dogs (or cats) and starts "collecting" them and gets so many that the animals cannot possibly be cared for.

I thought to look it up to see if anyone else got the same idea and found: Mother Teresa: A People Hoarder?

The article says the answer is no, but that's the first thing I thought of when reading your external quote.

It is probably a want for some of us to see the true altruism from the Christians as taught by Yeshua. Works and not only words.

Namaste.

One of my Heroes, Penn Jillette actually did a bit on Mother Theresa on his hit show "B.S."

Well shoot! She was going to be the topic of my next thread. Perhaps not quite in the same way, so I might do it yet.
I have tons of information about her, and she was an absolutely fascinating woman. Imperfect? Of course.

But hugely interesting woman who led a fascinating life. Hope you guys won't "bash" her too much, despite her shortcomings she did so many wonderful things for people. But yes, she was a 'piece of work' for sure.

eta: We will be remembered not for the countless, wonderful things we did, but for our mistakes, and our inability to achieve perfection in the eyes of others.
~~~~~ ladyinwaiting.

Memes will worm their way into us before we know what has happened. They meld with unconscious memories and emotions and make themselves at home in our minds.

When I first heard of Mother Teresa I thought for only a moment, ahhh, what a sweet thing, this little lady working with the poor her whole life, ahhhh. But then I inspected the way the meme was being used by the media, by the church, by those who would pull my heart strings and I pulled back and refused the meme.

Memes are particularly susceptible to being used to control us.

silly really to react and even condone to such lies about who lived a life impossible to understand preceding the age of deceit .

such feelings wouldn't exist had the article or book had been read then . amusing how writers change .

originally posted by: Benevolent Heretic
a reply to: Krazysh0t

Ugh! It's almost like a pet hoarder who loves dogs (or cats) and starts "collecting" them and gets so many that the animals cannot possibly be cared for.

I thought to look it up to see if anyone else got the same idea and found: Mother Teresa: A People Hoarder?

The article says the answer is no, but that's the first thing I thought of when reading your external quote.

The neglect of the people in her care was intentional. She believed that they should suffer to experience the suffering of Christ so she refused to give them pain meds, etc.. Some of the doctors and nurses who visited her "hospices" were horrified. She also said, "Poverty is beautiful" yet she traveled first class and died on clean sheets in a world class hospital. I think she was a pretty despicable person.

originally posted by: InverseLookingGlass
I'm sure everybody reading this sentence has this person's name imprinted in your memory. I do.

Mother Theresa. Performer of miracles and nearing sainthood. But who is Agnes Gonxha?

I have a somewhat deified image of "Mother Theresa" the meme. Altruism and sacrifice ---by a fragile human being for other fragile human beings. It appeals to humanism, which appeals to me. As it turns out, Agnes the person is very different than the meme. Above all, dogmatic and to a lesser extent, cruel, corrupt and a hypocrite. More like Ayn Rand.

As with so many things in this world, a meme born in an unknown place and in an unknown way silently worms it's way into our minds and sets up shop. Maybe this meme is comfortable and offers some reward to the host? For whatever reason, it remains resident and active in your mind to guide you on your way through life. Well memes can be disabled and deleted. I just deleted the Mother Theresa meme from my mind. Pop. Keep looking for altruism. You won't find it with this fiction.

I didn't wake up this morning wanting to blow up the Mother Theresa meme resident in my mind -- but it happened. Good riddance.

My family is Catholic (I'm non-denominational), so I grew up with the meme, if you will, but after reading a book about her once in high school, it opened my eyes to the real woman. I didn't have the heart to destroy my family's ideal of her though.

originally posted by: PsychoEmperor
a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Leave her alone

How can you try to destroy her image.

Look how tiny she is!

Pish posh, I'm shorter by 2 inches. Can I be revered now?

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Now that I've read the responses, I'm so glad I took ( as in stole) the time to write today.
Thanks all.

a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Christopher Hitchens's original exposé in Slate: Mommie Dearest

Don't post this on Facebook if you have any Catholic friends.

originally posted by: Astyanax
a reply to: InverseLookingGlass

Christopher Hitchens's original exposé in Slate: Mommie Dearest

Don't post this on Facebook if you have any Catholic friends.

Thanks for the heads up, as I have many.

I even have one who is a radical Catholic cross dresser who is transitioning into becoming a woman, yet hates gays and thinks they should all burn in hell. I'm still trying to work that one out......