My ears were being assaulted by profanity voiced somewhere in the house. I went to investigate the uncommon occurrence and discovered the profanity was coming from the TV. A show called “Bulls**t”, hosted by Penn & Teller, was on.

Penn & Teller’s show is devoted to aggressively shooting down fuzzy thinking or the blind following the blind. (My cat opinion is that their next show should shoot down the inane belief that irrepressible profanity adds character or strength to thought movement forward)

This particular show being aired on TV involved a perspective of Mother Teresa (1910-1997) of Calcutta. Born in 1910, baptized Gonxha Agnes, she left home at the age of 18 years to become a missionary. She became famous as Mother Teresa over a six decade period of time during when she helped people, especially the poor. The intent to help people was also manifest to found Centers which are operating today.

Penn & Teller apparently agreed with the view that Mother Teresa had an ulterior motive—self-aggrandizement. So, these TV celebrities felt it their calling to expose Mother Teresa as a fraud.

Granted, the public needs to be aware of many views and avoid problematic issues such as hero worship. Mother Teresa did help many people, and the public needs to learn from her behavior instead of rely on her.

We can also learn from Penn & Teller, that even when people are doing helpful things in the world, they are still vulnerable to attacks by disapproving loud thinkers.

An inclusive prayer is to do the best we can each day with truth, coupled with a prayer of strength not to be shot down. If we do get shot down, the spiritual resolve to get back up with dignity and grace can be acted on.

Zen Kitty