Part way through Mother's Day, I realized that the woman who was famous for being a mother, was Mother Teresa. She never was an actual mother. We celebrate her on September 5th each year. She herself left home at age 18 to join the Sisters of Loreto in Ireland to learn English, so that she could instruct at the Sisters of Loreto in India. The Wikipedia entry says she saw neither her mother nor her sister again.
Her life mission had an astonishingly large scope - "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". This is what makes me think off her as the "greatest mother".
She was bestowed with many awards including the Nobel Peace Prize. When Mother Teresa received the prize she was asked, "What can we do to promote world peace?" She answered, "Go home and love your family."
She was controversial - there are other views of her that are not at all favourable. Take her stand on abortion and the role of the Mother. "Mother Teresa singled out abortion as "the greatest destroyer of peace today. Because if a mother can kill her own child – what is left for me to kill you and you kill me – there is nothing between." "Barbara Smoker of the secular humanist magazine The Freethinker criticised Mother Teresa after the Peace Prize award, saying that her promotion of Catholic moral teachings on abortion and contraception diverted funds from effective methods to solve India's problems. At the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, Mother Teresa said: "Yet we can destroy this gift of motherhood, especially by the evil of abortion, but also by thinking that other things like jobs or positions are more important than loving."
Isn't is interesting that the seemingly simple notion of a day to celebrate Mothers can bring so much introspection and scrutiny into our social views and actions. We live in complicated times.
Given the sanctity that is bestowed on Mother Teresa, are there actually Mother Teresa jokes? Yes, here's a silly one. A nun gets into a taxi...... and the driver can't take his eyes off her.
Finally, he says, "Sister, I must tell you something but I don’t want to offend you."
She says, "My son, you won’t offend me. I've heard it all after so many years of being a nun."
"Okay," says the driver, "Well I always had this fantasy of kissing a nun."
"Alright, but you must be single and Catholic," says the nun.
"No problem, I'm both!"
"Okay then, so stop the car over there."
He stops and the nun makes his dreams come true with the Mother Teresa of all kisses.
But when they set off again, the driver starts crying.
"I'm sorry Sister, " he says. "I lied. I'm married and I'm Jewish."
"That's okay son," replied the nun. "I'm Steven and I'm on my way to a fancy dress party." | 
