who do you admire?

[starbuck]

Gribble, your story made me LOL.

I also admire my mom. She's such a smart, well-read lady. I can call her and talk about current events, politics, and the news, and she usually knows way more about it all than my any of my peers or coworkers do.

She could definitely name more newspapers she reads than Sarah Palin.

[Mish]

Although Pushkin had his bad sides also, my attention goes to Mother Theresa.

What did she actually do, red example please. Only thing she is famous for is sobbing and putting people in her little castle where there weren't even enough beds. These people just waited their deaths, waiting so called forgiveness. She did not make anyone happy besides the ones who donated money so they felt good about themselves... Inspiring ideas? Hey, I have many ideas, maybe some of them are inspiring... I should write them don, maybe I'll get famous.

Nobody's perfect. I could have been a lot nicer to some of the people in my life. However, if someone donated millions of dollars to me and I just happened to own a building filled to capacity with the sick and the dying, I think I'd be inclined to put some of that money toward helping them with their pain. I can't imagine doing otherwise. And I'm not exactly the most selfless guy around. It's just weird.

Well she didn't exactly spend this money on her castles and luxury lifestyles (like majority of philanthropists are inclined to do at least at some point in time) that's for sure

Where did that money go? It went into dozens of other projects which were just as important. Lest someone forgets her achievements simplifying it to simple sobbings, here is a brief summary:

- in 1948, adopted Indian citizenship, and ventured out into the slums."Initially she started a school in Motijhil; soon she started tending to the needs of the destitute and starving overlooked by all other sections of society

- in October 7, 1950 started the diocesan congregation that would become the Missionaries of Charity Its mission was to care for, "the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the crippled, the blind, the lepers, all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared for throughout society, people that have become a burden to the society and are shunned by everyone."

- In 1952 Mother Teresa opened the first Home for the Dying in space made available by the City of Calcutta. With the help of Indian officials she converted an abandoned Hindu temple into the Kalighat Home for the Dying, a free hospice for the poor. Those brought to the home received medical attention and were afforded the opportunity to die with dignity, according to the rituals of their faith (for free). Mother Teresa soon opened a home for those suffering from Hansen's disease, commonly known as leprosy, and called the hospice Shanti Nagar (City of Peace). The Missionaries of Charity also established several leprosy outreach clinics throughout Calcutta, providing medication, bandages and food.

- As the Missionaries of Charity took in increasing numbers of lost children, Mother Teresa felt the need to create a home for them. In 1955 she opened the Nirmala Shishu Bhavan, the Children's Home of the Immaculate Heart, as a haven for orphans and homeless youth.

- The order soon began to attract both recruits and charitable donations (note these were scarce before 60s), and by the 1960s had opened hospices, orphanages, and leper houses all over India. Mother Teresa then expanded the order throughout the globe. Its first house outside India opened in Venezuela in 1965 with five sisters. Others followed in Rome, Tanzania, and Austria in 1968; during the 1970s the order opened houses and foundations in dozens of countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States. Her philosophy and implementation have faced some criticism. While noting how little evidence Mother Teresa's critics were able to find against her, David Scott wrote that Mother Teresa limited herself to keeping people alive rather than tackling poverty itself.

- In 1982, at the height of the Siege of Beirut, Mother Teresa rescued 37 children trapped in a front line hospital by brokering a temporary cease-fire between the Israeli army and Palestinian guerrillas. Accompanied by Red Cross workers, she traveled through the war zone to the devastated hospital to evacuate the young patients.

- In her declining health Mother Teresa traveled to assist and minister to the hungry in Ethiopia, radiation victims at Chernobyl, and earthquake victims in Armenia.

Now I'm not the most selfless guy around as well and I admit personally there is no way I could distribute the donation money evenly among all of the important above projects if I had that money (and personally I don't know too many people who would). Bearing in ind, there is no way I would start a selfless life work in the slums starting from scratch and building up so much in my life time. I don't contend that she's the best person in the world, only that admire her inspiring effort and I wish there were more people like her.

[boobaa]

The House of the Dying is what I was talking about. This makes me pissed a bit because from the pictures I have seen, people literally waited for their deaths there, starving and sleeping on the floor with just a few blankets. And the mood was sad sad sad because Christianity tells people to be sad.

I might be wrong because I haven't been there and I haven't lived at that time but thats what my impression is. Those people would have been better off on the streets in my opinion.

Most of her money went to travelling, for just to make a statement somewhere. She was just a media person. There was a good documentary about it (like for everything, there are positive and negative documentaries for everything) but I don't remember it quite, its also debatable wether the documentary was 100% genuine.