The Importance of servitude

‘Not all of us can do great things, but we can do small things with great love’-Mother Teresa

As human beings, we all inherently want to belong to society and be a part of something that is larger than us. Servitude to society, therefore, becomes a fundamental exercise, helping one foster and develop blooming relations with not only oneself but with the society as a whole.

While we often associate servitude with larger heroic acts of sacrifice, it in fact can be achieved by performing smaller acts of empathy in everyday life. Small things, such as picking up that littered chips packet and dumping it in the dustbin to giving up one’s seat for the elderly can instill feelings of compassion and love, that takes us a long way in our search for purpose.

We as individuals are surrounded by success stories of leaders of change and one such leader that truly stands out when speaking of serving the society is a small woman who dedicated 25 years of her life to revalorize the foulest slums of Calcutta. Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu who later came to be known as ‘Mother Teresa’ was born to Albanian parents in Skopje, Macedonia on August 26, 1910. Having an inclination towards Christian missionaries and spiritualism from an early age, at 18, Teresa traveled to Ireland with the sisters of Loretto in the hope to study English. During the initial phase of her teaching career, she served as an elementary school teacher at St. Mary’s and in 1944 was also appointed its headmaster. By this time, she had also completed all her vows to become a nun and denounced all worldly pleasures, embracing a life of non-violence and celibacy.

It was not until 20 years after she arrived in India that found her true purpose. On her annual train journey from Calcutta to the monastery of Darjeeling, on September 10th, 1946, Teresa heard her true inner calling that changed her life forever. Theresa heard what she later regarded as "a call in a call." According to her, God called her from her school to help and live among the poorest of the poor. In the years following 1946, Teresa served as a caretaker, completely devoting herself to serving the poor, hungry, blind, and disabled.

In the year 1950, her work started getting recognized and was joined by a few other volunteers, getting financial aid and support. Subsequently, it was around this time that she came to be known as ‘Mother’, and founded the ‘Missionaries of Charity sisters’.

Being an avid believer of humanity, she converted a Hindu temple and set up her first hospice to care for the excommunicated by the mid-1960s several houses had been established in South America and Africa to continue what she had started in a small sanitarium in Calcutta. Today, there are over 5,000 Christian missionaries across 120 countries that Eco mother Teresa’s vision of spreading the love of God to all of humanity. Many operating orphanages, homeless shelters, soup kitchens, AIDS hospices, and care centers for refugees and victims of natural disasters have also been set up under her noble efforts.

Given her decades of altruistic service to society, in 1979, Mother Teresa was also awarded the Nobel Peace Prize which is the highest honor in society. The Nobel committee had awarded her ‘for her work for bringing help to suffering humanity'. Further, The Nobel committee stated that “in the eyes of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, constructive efforts to do away with hunger and poverty, and to ensure for mankind safer and better world community in which to develop, should be inspired by the spirit of Mother Teresa, by respect for the worth and dignity of the individual human being.”

Due to fatal health complications, Mother Teresa later died in Calcutta on September 5, 1997, at the age of 87 but her story continues to live. In order to commemorate her work, the Indian government also gave her a state funeral and recognized her service of a lifetime to the country`s poor. In December 1999, she ranked number one in Gallup`s “List of People that Americans Most Widely Admired in the 20th Century;”. Therefore, Mother Teresa was a unique and angelic woman, who continued to serve a higher purpose, inspiring millions behind her. While one cannot completely follow suit when it comes to figures such as her, what one can do is to look beyond pity desires and let stories of Heroes, inspire them to embark on a journey to instill within, an attitude of servitude every day.

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Youth for Good Governance Foundation under the able guidance of the Vivekananda Institute of Human Excellence is pleased to invite you to be a part of the National Youth Conclave: Youth Impact Crucible. The platform is dedicated to young change-makers pursuing graduate and undergraduate degrees and are actively involved in bringing positive social change through their service. It is an exciting opportunity that encourages young student changemakers to showcase the impact of their service. One of the four domains listed under the project is, ‘Impacting the green cover of the community or educational institution’. We invite you to share with us your stories of impact.

Register here –https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScAv1sqEJxyiuxunmCM0BeyNDVKqj-LuAXeJ8yOh1_EHx2n4w/viewform?usp=sf_link

Registrations open until 15th May 2022.