The Wisdom of Mother Teresa

How often each day do you really think about helping people that you meet or spend time with each day? Or is your primary focus primarily in determining how much you receive from others? Today’s short story, in which read on kluth.org, is about one of the most humble and caring people that the world has ever known…Mother Teresa.

Mother Teresa visited Australia. A new recruit to the monastery in Australia was assigned to be her guide and “gofer” during her stay. The young man was so thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this woman. He dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about.

But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, he never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet. Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea.

In desperation, the friar had his opportunity to speak to Mother Teresa. He said to her, “If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you?” Mother Teresa looked at him. “You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea?” she asked. “Oh, yes,” he replied eagerly. “Then give that money to the poor,” she said. “You’ll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.”

The situation here was that this young man wanted to encounter an experience of a feeling when instead; all he needed to do was to simply learn a lesson for life simply by doing things for others.