Mother Teresa

[roddma]

On the FB 19 Kids page, someone posted quotes from mother Teresa. Everyone talked about what a saint she was. I learned not long ago she wasnt the saint from googling after reading something on here. What does everyone think? Did the media paint her the saint she wasn't? Noone believes me if I say otherwise.

[emmiedahl]

She had her issues. She was not perfect, but she worked hard to make a difference where no one else would. I am not going to demonize someone who spent their life bathing lepers just because they were against birth control. She had some serious personal flaws and a good dose of fundie crazy, but her heart was in the right place.

There are no real saints. We are all bad people in some way.

[browncoatslytherin]

There are no real saints. We are all bad people in some way.

exactly. i've noticed that history tends to gloss over details like that, portraying someone as either good or bad and nothing else.

[Sinister Rouge]

She had her issues. She was not perfect, but she worked hard to make a difference where no one else would. I am not going to demonize someone who spent their life bathing lepers just because they were against birth control. She had some serious personal flaws and a good dose of fundie crazy, but her heart was in the right place.

There are no real saints. We are all bad people in some way.

Agreed. Totally.

[MrsYoungie]

I am not a Mother Teresa fan. It has little to do with her views on birth control and much more to do with her methods of dealing with the dying patients that were brought to her. If you Google "Mother Teresa Controvery" you can find some articles about how she failed to use the millions of dollars which she raised for actually helping the physical needs of her people. Most of the money went to the Vatican and was NOT spent on medicines, pain killers or any type of proper palliative care.

As far as I am concerned, she raised money under false pretenses.

When she herself got sick - she received top notch care in the best facillities. (grumble grumble)

[Guest Anonymous]

We had a scrap about this a while ago here - viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3114

She thought suffering was good for people because it brought them closer to God, she denied people in her warehouse pain medication, and I am not a fan.

[roddma]

I am in agreement with others saying no one is perfect. The media just tends to gloss over like the Duggars. We see a perfect happy family on TV but you never what goes on behind closed doors. Before long, you refuse to believe anything bad about them. Other celebs are far from being painted perfect.

[Bookworm]

I am not a Mother Teresa fan. It has little to do with her views on birth control and much more to do with her methods of dealing with the dying patients that were brought to her. If you Google "Mother Teresa Controvery" you can find some articles about how she failed to use the millions of dollars which she raised for actually helping the physical needs of her people. Most of the money went to the Vatican and was NOT spent on medicines, pain killers or any type of proper palliative care.

As far as I am concerned, she raised money under false pretenses.

When she herself got sick - she received top notch care in the best facillities. (grumble grumble)

word.

[Lainey]

word.

+1

[jaelh]

She had her issues. She was not perfect, but she worked hard to make a difference where no one else would. I am not going to demonize someone who spent their life bathing lepers just because they were against birth control. She had some serious personal flaws and a good dose of fundie crazy, but her heart was in the right place.

There are no real saints. We are all bad people in some way.

+3.

:)

[Stickers]

I freaking hate her, she was a supreme bitch. And for me, it has A LOT to do with her views on birth control and abortion, and ya know her disgusting sadistic nature. Sure other famous figures have their dark sides but they did some good, they gave the world something. Her? Nothing. Expect making the Catholic Church richer and betraying her own country while doing so And did I mention she was a bitch? Yeah, she was a HUGE nasty bitch.

Seeing a picture of her smug face is enough to make me feel pissed off, and I hate when people use the "I'm no Mother Teresa" line, no I am not Mother Teresa. I am a billion times a better person then she was, and I think most people I've heard use that line are too.

[dirtyhippiegirl]

+3.

:)

Denying basic painkillers to people who are dying does not make you a saint or even put your heart "in the right place" whatever that might be.

Leprosy is an easily curable disease these days, btw.

[NurseNell]

I used to be a big fan until I read more about her. I will say she was a very hard worker, she never asked the other sisters to do anything she wouldn't or hadn't already done. She cared deeply for the poor. She couldn't have spent that many years living in abject poverty herself. I've heard from people who volunteered time with her that she a will of iron and was very tough on everyone who worked with her. It bothers me as a nurse that pain medications were not given, if indeed they were available, to those who needed them. She did feel suffering brought one closer to God and she herself suffered. However, one should not be made to suffer terrible pain if there is relief possible. Yes, she kept patients clean, fed them, clothed them, performed corporal works of mercy. But apparently withheld pain meds. Not OK. I do admire her for the good that she did do, and she devoted her entire life to helping others

Someone said she betrayed her country. In what way? Wasn't she from Yugoslavia?

[emmiedahl]

She is Albanian.

I can't find any info on her withholding pain meds. While leprosy is curable here, is it curable in India? And if so, why were the lepers on the streets and not in a hospital?

[NurseNell]

She is Albanian.

I can't find any info on her withholding pain meds. While leprosy is curable here, is it curable in India? And if so, why were the lepers on the streets and not in a hospital?

That's right, thanks.

Leprosy is curable in the early stages but many of the poorest of the poor in India are far advanced before they seek medical attention.

[Austin]

I am not a fan. Others have already given the reasons.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

I can't find any info on her withholding pain meds.

Watch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WQ0i3nCx60. It's part of a documentary that Christopher Hitchens made. Seeing this is what spurned me into further looking into MT, and discovering the real truth. Saint, my ass.

[emmiedahl]

I'll have to watch it later, I am too behind on biochemistry lectures to pause. But didn't Christopher Hitchens criticise the freaking Dalai Lama? He is not a fan of any religious figure if I am thinking of the right guy.

[Witsec1]

Yeah, I'd be skeptical if it was just Hitchens (religion can be bad but it doesn't poison everything, Chris). But I've read similar critiques from other sources that actually worked with her who started out believing the hype and went away disillusioned. This is the account I linked to before:

http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdail ... world.html

According to her, things vastly improved for the patients after Mother Theresa was no longer overseeing day-to-day care:

KS: In my first trip to her Hospital, I saw practically no compassion. They did what was necessary and that was it. There’s a line in one of the new poems…I think it’s the one about how there is no good without its attendant evil...

I saw something like this happen on my first visit and said to the nun, “How would you be?†I was so pissed at her. She looked at me like, what are you talking about? But Mother Georgiana brought in this whole different feeling toward people.

[emmiedahl]

omg, this is mental rape. Is there no one in this world who is kind and generous? I have such good experiences with Catholic nuns, but this is so disturbing.

[Bookworm]

Sorry, emmie. I have moments where I feel like that too, but there really are a lot of great people in the world. It's just that they are more common among the "little people." I think since absolute power corrupts absolutely and all that, people with power should always give us powerful suspicions about them.

[julie paradox]

emmie: leprosy is curable - though not during the seventies, I think - but while it's happening you can lose digits (and possibly limbs but I wouldn't swear to that) because you can't feel them. This makes it harder to work once you're cured. Also because the cure is so recent there is a lot of stigma attached to the disease in many places so sufferers often find they are abandoned and shunned by their families and communities. (This year the Leprosy Mission catalogue have a new set of sandals in the Gifts For Life section, because people were beginning to recognise "leprosy sandals".)

The Leprosy Mission spends a lot of its time training ex-sufferers in craft work so they have an income, and educating their children.

[bananacat]

I'm not a fan of Mother Theresa either. It's not just about the birth control and abortion thing. She was condescending and treated actual people like they were her little pets, just so she could look good. She's the perfect example of everything that is wrong with the type of fake charity that I hate. If you're doing it for the glory or to convert people, then you're not actually being charitable. She's not much better than the Duggars going to some South American country, IMO. She had an agenda to push, and helping a few people was just the price she paid to get a platform. I don't believe for a minute that she genuinely cared about those people.

[Austin]

Well, lots of people, namely lots of Catholics, don't have great experiences with Catholic nuns. Ask nearly anyone who went to Catholic school in the 1950s and 1960s (like my husband). Some were very nice people, and some were just outright bitches.

There are good and kind people in the world - a lot of them. They just aren't famous.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

Yeah, I'd be skeptical if it was just Hitchens (religion can be bad but it doesn't poison everything, Chris). But I've read similar critiques from other sources that actually worked with her who started out believing the hype and went away disillusioned.

Yeah, this is why I said the documentary is what spring-boarded my interest. He's definitely not the only one to try and remove the wool from over people's eyes. If there had been nothing else to go on, I'd remain skeptical, but sadly that's just not the case.