Mother Teresa

Please choose the way of peace…In the short term there may be winners and losers in this war that we all dread. But that never can, nor never will justify the suffering, pain and loss of life your weapons will cause.” –Letter to US President Bush and Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, January 1991

Though Mother Teresa died in 1997, I sometimes pretend she didn’t. 

Like an actor in a play, in a TV program, or in a movie, I like to create make-believe moments and pretend I am Mother Teresa.

Today I pretend I am in Washington, DC, our Nation’s Capitol.

I want to see President George W. Bush.

I have questions about the war in Iraq.

I want to know why are we there? When will our boys come home? When will the killing stop? 

Remember, my story is pretend. I am not Mother Teresa, I have never been to Washington, DC, and I have never met President George W. Bush.

Today I sit in a chair in a waiting room outside the Oval Office. I do not have an appointment to see President George W. Bush. I am told that I must wait. I am told President George W. Bush is a very busy man.

I place my hand in my pocket, and finger my rosary (A rosary is a real circle of beads that looks like a real necklace, but it is not a necklace. Real Catholics throughout the world sometimes carry a rosary. They use it to pray Hail Marys, Our Fathers, The Apostle’s Creed, and a few other prayers.).

I pray ten Hail Marys for peace in Iraq. 

I pray ten Hail Marys for mothers and fathers of sons and daughters fighting for you and me in Iraq. I pray that they see their children come home, again.

I pray ten Hail Marys for wives, daughters, sons, sisters, brothers, neighbors, and friends of soldiers. I pray that they see their husbands, their fathers, their sisters, their brothers, and everyone fighting for you and me.

I pray ten Hail Marys for patience. I do not understand war.

In my make-believe story, I sit and I wait for President Bush. And, I pray.

Remember, my story is make-believe.

Back to my story.

President George W. Bush’s secretary asks me to leave. He tells me President Bush is too busy to see me, today. He says I should come back another day.

I smile. I say it’s okay. Then I place my hand back in my pocket.

I pray my rosary.

Though my story is pretend, I’d like to think if Mother Teresa were alive today, she’d like it.

What do you think?