Heroes
The history of the world features many important people – men and women whose actions have had profound impact on their society. The greatest of these are the heroes. More than famous, more than popular, and more than talented, the heroes are sublimely virtuous. They illumine the world with their acts of kindness, or courage, or self-sacrifice. Some heroes have one shining moment. Some have a lifetime of shining moments. All have touched many hearts. I admit I'm a softy. I am easily stirred by the example set by my heroes.

Jackie Robinson is a hero. Nomad wrote a post in his honor on February 24. Frankly, I don’t think that post got the attention it deserved.

Mother Teresa is also a hero. The remainder of this post is dedicated to her.

Mother Teresa cared for the poorest of the poor. She provided food and medicine to outcasts. She gave love and comfort to pariahs in their dying moments. She did these things for almost 50 years. God provided the motive. She once said, "I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord Himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?"

Agnes Bojaxhiu was born on August 26, 1910, in what is now Macedonia. In 1928, she joined a community of nuns in Ireland. The following year she was sent to India. In 1931, she took the name Sister Teresa and moved to Calcutta to teach history and geography at a Catholic high school for rich girls. Teresa enjoyed her work, but she was unsettled by the widespread poverty, starvation, and disease that existed just outside the school walls. In 1946, Teresa heard God's call to do something about it.

Now the story gets interesting. In 1948, Teresa exchanged the comfort of the convent for a hovel and her nun’s habit for a plain white sari. Her first mission was to teach poor children how to read. Soon thereafter she began to help the poor and sick in the children’s families. Then she began to help poor and sick people in general.

News of Teresa’s work spread and many young women volunteered to join her as Missionaries of Charity. In 1952, they opened a home for the dying. In 1953, they opened their first orphanage. In 1956, they created the first of many mobile medical clinics. In 1957, they opened a care center for lepers. In 1979 Mother Teresa won the Nobel Peace Prize. She received the prize “in the name of the hungry, the naked, the homeless, of the crippled, of the blind, of the lepers, of all those people who feel unwanted, unloved, uncared-for throughout society…”

Mother Teresa died on September 5, 1997. - served up by Oven @ 10:40 PM