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You don’t have to be particularly grumpy to think that deliberately holding back easily and cheaply available pain medicine and freely offered professional medi

You don’t have to be particularly grumpy to think that deliberately holding back easily and cheaply available pain medicine and freely offered professional medical help from the people who submitted themselves to your care was a bad thing. Her approach may have been laudable in the 19th century. It was absolutely unacceptable in the late 20th century. The only reason people accepted it was because it was happening in a poor country. If she had used the same approach in a North American or European country she would almost certainly have been put behind bars. Edit: If you read the Wikipedia article about the response to criticisms of her, the major defense of her is that she never intended to create a place with clinical facilities, but instead a place where people could die peacefully. If her institution was accurately promoted as such, I doubt it would receive the millions in funding it did, and even if it did, then the people who sent the funding should be shamed for not sending it to actual hospitals in the areas which actually saved lives. Further, that’s not what the people who went there thought. They didn’t go there thinking they were being given a “kinder” death. They went there thinking they would be treated well.

rhaway84773 4y ago
I’m not sure if everyone can access this, but here’s her response to the Bhopal gas tragedy which killed thousands of people. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/12/world/mother-teresa-carries-her-message-to-bhopal.html https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/12/world/mother-teresa-carri... ——————— Mother Teresa stressed two points. First, the gas tragedy was not the worst catastrophe she had seen. ''I have seen worse suffering,'' she said. Referring to the intensity of the disaster, she said, ''It is more terrible to see a person with maggots eating his face slowly dying over weeks and months.'' Then, returning to a favorite theme, Mother Teresa made her second point. She stressed the need for forgiveness to government officials, reporters and doctors. ''There must be bitter feelings inside,'' she said. ''This could have been an accident, it is like a fire could break out anywhere.'' ''That is why,'' she said, ''It is important to forgive.'' ''Forgiveness offers us a clean heart and people will be a hundred times better after it,'' she said. ——————— She was an awful person.
- tsol 4y ago
  It's strange to me how spiritually alien people can be. When the Charleston historic black church was shot by a racist mass shooter, the family of one of the victims had a chance to speak to the killer. She took the time to say she forgives him and prays for him. This powerful moment is more than theatrics-- it's clears then of the emotional labor of continuing being angry. Forgiveness is required in order to heal. Holding on to anger feels logical but life is more than logic. Telling someone that it could be worse isn't a horrible affront to their suffering. Hearing it put into context of the suffering she regularly sees-- ie things like people slowly dying while their flesh rots with maggots-- mother Teresa is offering people who feel their world has ended an alternative vision. There is a reason she was so lauded, and it's very colorblind to ignore all the people she affected to say she could have done better.
  - mrguyorama 4y ago
    The difference is the Banality of Evil. In a mass shooting, it's one person, often very disturbed, broken in ways, led down an awful path by angry people making up conspiracies and lies. It's a single individual who has gone very dark, and maybe they can be forgiven for taking that path in the situations they were in. Maybe a mother can understand a son going astray, getting swept up in some neo-nazis propaganda or hatred. Hatred is easy to understand. Bhopal happened because some bureaucrats wanted to save a few bucks on engineering and maintenance and there were obvious increased risks from that action but they didn't care because it wouldn't hurt them and they were richer. Now thousands of people are dead. Did the people responsible even end up in prison? There's no emotion in sacrificing others for your personal gain. That should not be forgiven. You knew this could happen. Risks like that should not be profitable.
tsol 4y ago
This is greatly exaggerated. She worked in areas with undertrained nurses trying to treat people with little resources. Hospice and care for the dying gets messy. In our society elder abuse in care homes is as regular as clockwork. I don't see the purpose of being obtuse about the nature of life and disease outside of the first world. For many people life has much suffering, and the best you can do is help to comfort them and give their suffering meaning. It's easy to poke holes in things, but again it's not as if our currently accepted medical system is perfect. We have better standards of healthcare for those that can afford it, but the rest are on their own.

rhaway84773 4y ago

I’m not sure if everyone can access this, but here’s her response to the Bhopal gas tragedy which killed thousands of people. https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/12/world/mother-teresa-carries-her-message-to-bhopal.html https://www.nytimes.com/1984/12/12/world/mother-teresa-carri... ——————— Mother Teresa stressed two points. First, the gas tragedy was not the worst catastrophe she had seen. ''I have seen worse suffering,'' she said. Referring to the intensity of the disaster, she said, ''It is more terrible to see a person with maggots eating his face slowly dying over weeks and months.'' Then, returning to a favorite theme, Mother Teresa made her second point. She stressed the need for forgiveness to government officials, reporters and doctors. ''There must be bitter feelings inside,'' she said. ''This could have been an accident, it is like a fire could break out anywhere.'' ''That is why,'' she said, ''It is important to forgive.'' ''Forgiveness offers us a clean heart and people will be a hundred times better after it,'' she said. ——————— She was an awful person.

tsol 4y ago
It's strange to me how spiritually alien people can be. When the Charleston historic black church was shot by a racist mass shooter, the family of one of the victims had a chance to speak to the killer. She took the time to say she forgives him and prays for him. This powerful moment is more than theatrics-- it's clears then of the emotional labor of continuing being angry. Forgiveness is required in order to heal. Holding on to anger feels logical but life is more than logic. Telling someone that it could be worse isn't a horrible affront to their suffering. Hearing it put into context of the suffering she regularly sees-- ie things like people slowly dying while their flesh rots with maggots-- mother Teresa is offering people who feel their world has ended an alternative vision. There is a reason she was so lauded, and it's very colorblind to ignore all the people she affected to say she could have done better.
- mrguyorama 4y ago
  The difference is the Banality of Evil. In a mass shooting, it's one person, often very disturbed, broken in ways, led down an awful path by angry people making up conspiracies and lies. It's a single individual who has gone very dark, and maybe they can be forgiven for taking that path in the situations they were in. Maybe a mother can understand a son going astray, getting swept up in some neo-nazis propaganda or hatred. Hatred is easy to understand. Bhopal happened because some bureaucrats wanted to save a few bucks on engineering and maintenance and there were obvious increased risks from that action but they didn't care because it wouldn't hurt them and they were richer. Now thousands of people are dead. Did the people responsible even end up in prison? There's no emotion in sacrificing others for your personal gain. That should not be forgiven. You knew this could happen. Risks like that should not be profitable.

tsol 4y ago

This is greatly exaggerated. She worked in areas with undertrained nurses trying to treat people with little resources. Hospice and care for the dying gets messy. In our society elder abuse in care homes is as regular as clockwork. I don't see the purpose of being obtuse about the nature of life and disease outside of the first world. For many people life has much suffering, and the best you can do is help to comfort them and give their suffering meaning. It's easy to poke holes in things, but again it's not as if our currently accepted medical system is perfect. We have better standards of healthcare for those that can afford it, but the rest are on their own.