A Symbol of Selflessness
August 26th marks the birthdate of Nobel Peace Prize winner, the Catholic nun, Mother Teresa. In 2016 she was canonized by the Catholic Church as Saint Teresa of Calcutta.
Born in 1910 to Albanian parents in Macedonia, at age18, inspired by her mother, she joined the Sisters of Loreto, an Irish community of nuns with missions in India.
In India she was confronted with the devastating results of famine, homelessness, starvation, and resultant illnesses. She found her calling in working with and living with the underprivileged. She established the Missionaries of Charity, a congregation of women dedicated to service of the poor.
After witnessing her selfless work with the underprivileged, inspired citizens made donations to her cause. This led to her establishing various charity houses for different groups in need such as orphanages, leper houses, and hospice facilities. Mother Teresa passed away in 1997 while still serving the people in Kolkata, India. But her legacy lives on with her Missionaries of Charity (Sisters of Mother Teresa) having over 5,000 sisters in 130 nations today.
Saint Teresa’s legacy of selfless service to others stands amongst others in inspiring our writing of Adam in Taoland Guided by his wife Tariana, Adam, ceases his obsessive quest for corporate power and material things to focus on the inner happiness of the soul. Through volunteer work with his wife Tari, the leader of Tao Services for the Underprivileged, he discovers helping others as his true purpose in life. This leads to his decision to return with Tari to his homeland of Novana – and a peopleonce devastated with the after effects of famine, war, and disease – now enslaved to an oppressive regime of AI-controlled robots. Here Tari founds yet another organization to help the underprivileged there, with Adam in full support.
Today, let us be inspired by the life of Mother Teresa and countless other charity workers throughout the world. Let us strive to live each day of our own lives practicing random acts of kindness toward others. We can all play our part – no matter how small. Furthermore, we pray that the leaders of the world might miraculously unite and promote tolerance, opportunity, fairness, and love amongst all of the citizens of our dangerously troubled planet. Why not? Isn’t this indeed what the vast majority, if not all, of us want?
