The whole world has witnessed many wars in the last century. Among them two dreadful World Wars, some civil wars as well as many other wars are there. In the era of globalization, still some nations on our planet are fighting against terrorism. The beginning of twenty first century America was shaken by the terrorist attack on World Trade Centre. The progress and the development suddenly stopped. The bombardment on Hiroshima and Nagasaki was one of the most brutal act in the history of mankind. Japan was devastated. One more example is the Taliban’s terrorist activities in Afghanistan, which pushed the citizens hundred years back from the mainstream of the advance world. War, terrorism are nothing but the devastation and destruction of millions of innocent people as well as exorbitant environmental loss. It is also the destruction of the historical monuments that are the witnesses of the glorious past of the nation. ‘As the violence threatens to annihilate some of history’s greatest monuments, we count the cost of our irreplaceable losses’ (Monk).
If we want to stop all these disasters and annihilations, we need the messengers of God. To convey the message of peace and love to the bloodthirsty tendencies, some people dedicate their entire life to establish peach and harmony in the world. According to me, we should build monuments and dedicate to such people. So that these monuments will inspire the future generation to love each other and live their life peacefully. If the monument is to be dedicated to certain person, I would prefer to dedicate it to Mother Teresa.
What I appeal of her personality is her unconditional love for the poor and deprived people and the noble task she has taken for the upliftment of poor people from the world. She had a strong belief in love and goodness that lies in every human being. She believed in the power of love. She used to say, ‘Love cannot remain by itself — it has no meaning. Love has to be put into action, and that action is service.”
The qualities that made Mother Teresa to worthy to such honour were trust, love, compassion, devotion to her mission. Langford (142) states, ‘what was special about her young Sister Teresa, humanly speaking, was that nothing was special; there was nothing merely human in her account for her later transformation.’ While describing mother Teresa’s quality Ganza (n.d) says that she was the greatest humanitarian in the history of humankind. She used to take the poor people from the streets and provide them with food, shelter and care.’
Mother Teresa is the recipient of Nobel Prize for Peace. She bagged this award in 1979. She deserved the honour and I think this has increased her credential for being the most suitable person whom the monument should be dedicated. Mother Teresa has the capacity to change the world. She had an unending stream of love within her mind. When the poor and deprived people will be loved, care and sheltered, it will help to lessen the terrorism from the world. The deprived and poor people tend to follow the path of violence and terrorism to survive in the life. They follow the path due to depression and denial from the world. If they are sheltered and shaped properly, they can also spread love and peace in the society. This was what Mother Teresa’s objective behind her noble mission. The path of Jesus brings us towards love and peace. Just think, if she had not been there in the world, what would have happened? Many poor and needy would have remained poor and in the acute poverty, they would have followed the path of violence. We must say that she had a lion’s share in carrying forward the noble principle of Mahatma Gandhi and that is non-violence. Mahatma Gandhi attained political freedom whereas Mother Teresa helped to make people free from their horrible poverty. Hence I think she deserves for the monument.
I would never claim that Mother Teresa was the one and only person to whom the monument should be dedicated. There are other great persons also who fought for establishing peace and harmony for the world. Some of them are Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandel, Mikhail Gorbachev and many more. They have also inspirational leaders and dedicated their life for their noble mission. But I preferred Mother Teresa, because of her long social service. She accepted this noble task at the very young age of her life. She would have easily spent her life with luxury as her father was an entrepreneur. But with certain noble purpose, she chose to be the nun. Life was not easy for her. She came to a complete new culture, absorbed the culture and spread her values and principle of love and peace among the destitute community. She took the role of a mother which I think is not easy. You have to have lot of courage to be the mother of a vast community. Being a mother is the greatest responsibility in the world. Mother Teresa is an amazing inspiration to people all over the world, even after her death her legacy still carries on to this day. Orphanages, school, and shelters have been placed in honour of her selfless acts (Mother Teresa’s Influence on Our Generation)
The term monument is a building or a structure that is erected to commemorate a person or an important events. It is basically erected in the memory of the person and the noble task he/she has done in her life. Mother Teresa’s noble mission must be carried forward to the future generation. She should remain in the memory of future generation.
Mother Teresa is loved by people regardless of their caste, creed and class. Her name and fame is not just limited to India but she is an international figure. When she was alive, she had a strong and long lasting impact on the entire world. That is why it is necessary to dedicate the monument to commemorate her and her noble task which would be motivating for the future generation. Generally monuments are dedicated to those people who meant to the world. She was the representative of the past generation when she was alive and when she is no more, still she would represent the future world where hatred, hostility are spreading and the peace is threatened by the human hatred and perversity. Her entire life is like a book but this book should not be merely kept in any museum or in a book shelf. When the monument will be dedicated to her, the people who come to visit the monument, should be informed about her noble mission and her divine life.
Monuments can never be dedicated to the person, who goes with the tide, but it is always dedicated to the person whose life is made by God to go against the tide. Much is talked and discussed about the unjust, violence, terrorism by common people like us But very few extraordinary people are there who had immense courage to fight against these evil things. And there fight is not with the weapon. The best weapon for them to fight against the evil is love, kindness and compassion. Mother Teresa was among those very few extraordinary people.
While focusing on her qualities such as generosity, compassion, love and kindness, Carvalho states, ‘When Mother Teresa saw a dying man, a marginalised person, a leper, she did not hesitate from reaching out to them; it did not matter that he might be Hindu, Muslims or of another faith. Her heart felt love and compassion for them right away and she responded spontaneously to the circumstance. She served the poor with a burning passion for Christ’ and she never concealed the fact that she was a Christian and a Catholic because she loved Jesus.’ (Carvalho).
Love is waning amidst the hatred and violence. People have started losing sensitivity and humanity in the technological world. The children at the very tender age play video games which are most of the time violent and destructive. They have been brought up in the environment full of anarchy and perversity. It is the fear that somehow the humanity is vanishing from the world. In such circumstances it is our duty to contribute ourselves some or other way to bring this peace and humanity back in the world and dedicating the monument to such personality will be one of the ways to contribute in transforming the world, which have lost hope of love and peace.
Works cited
Carvalho, Nirmala. "Mother Teresa, A Witness of God's Love for New Generation." Asia News.it . Asia News, 8 May 2010. Web. 19 July 2015. <http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Mother-Teresa,-a-witness-of-God%E2%80%99s-love-for-new-generations-19132.html>.
Ganza, Ana. Journey of Hope – Authorized by Mother Teresa. N.p.: Ana Ganza Copyright, 2014. Web. 19 July 2015.
Langford, Joseph. Mother Teresa’s Secret Fire. 2007: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, n.d. 142. Web. 19 July 2015.
Monks, Kieron. "The greatest buildings you'll never see: 20 priceless monuments lost in conflict By Kieron Monks, for CNN."CNN Style. N.p., 29 June 2015. Web. 19 July 2015. <http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/05/world/gallery/precious-monuments-lost-in-middle-east-conflicts/>.
"Mother Teresa’s Influence on Our Generation. ." The Truth Cold: A Project of Texas Women’s University. . N.p., n.d. Web. 19 July 2015. <https://truthscold.wordpress.com/about/>.
