search close

MotherTeresa's wall wisdom.

One hundred years ago in the year 1910, a little girl was born in the town of Skopje
in Macedonia, Albania. Her name was Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu. She died a few
days after Princess Diana and such unfortunate timing consigned notice of her
death and any celebration of her life far away from the front pages. This probably
would have been her wish anyway. She did not seek the spotlight.


At the age of 18, she felt the call of God and left her family home, travelling to Ireland where she joined a
community of nuns. Agnes then travelled to Calcutta where she worked as a teacher for 17 years from
1931 to 1948. She felt compelled to leave teaching and to move into the slums of Calcutta where she set
about improving the lives of the poorest people. She did this with no financial backing at all – simply relying
on her trust in God and surviving by His grace alone. Agnes worked in the slums until the day she
died.


It is not a path in life that would keep a Careers Advisor busy – but it was a life that the selfless part of us
admires nonetheless. Most people did not know her as Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu; most knew her as
Mother Theresa, winner of a Nobel Prize for her tireless service to humanity.


What would be her words of wisdom for us?

Fortunately she had some and they were prominently placed on her wall as a constant reminder to her –

 

  • Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the best you have anyway.
  • The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.
  • If you find serenity and happiness, people may be jealous; Be happy anyway.
  • What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.
  • If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.
  • If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.
  • If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.
  • People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered; Forgive them anyway.


In the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.


[Reportedly inscribed on the wall of Mother Teresa's children's home in Calcutta, and attributed to her.
However, an article in the New York Times has since reported (March 8, 2002) that the original version of
this poem was written by Kent M. Keith.]
 

A special thanks to Principal Stuart Quarmby of Wollondilly Anglican College for permission to reproduce this article of his.