Mother Teresa versus the Empire State Building: The fight for lights

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(Free-Press-Release.com) June 10, 2010 -- The Empire State Building has been lit up in honor of everyone and anything from Mariah Carey to Communist China's 60th anniversary, but it will not be lit up in honor of what would have been Mother Teresa’s 100th birthday on Aug. 26, 2010. The official response from Anthony Malkin, the owner of the world’s most famous skyscraper is that they have a specific policy against any lighting for religious figures or requests by religions and religious organizations.

While the explanation is understandable, what’s not understandable is why in the past, the building has been lit up to honor Pope John Paul II in 2005 and Cardinal John O'Connor in 2000. Certainly the Cardinal and the Pope are religious figures. They also have lightings for Christmas, Easter, Hanukkah and Eid al-Fitr (the end of Ramadan), all religious holidays. Why is it “lights out” for Mother Teresa?

Even more curious, is why the building was lit up to honor Communist China's 60th anniversary. While the building is privately owned and the owners have the right to make decisions on who to honor, the question does remain why the line was drawn at one of the most generous, kindest women to walk the Earth.

And then there was the Mariah Carey lighting of the Empire State Building. Purple, pink and white were Mariah’s choice of colors. The honor was bestowed on the singer’s album, E=MC2 hitting number one. No offense to Mariah. She certainly deserves her success and she’s truly a talent. The woman can sing without using voice enhancers and the like. But, since the Empire State Building owners saw it fitting to allow Mariah’s lighting and not Mother Teresa’s, a comparison of quotes is in order.

Mother Teresa: Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.
Mariah Carey: In this world, I call the shots and I think I know best.
Mother Teresa: I see God in every human being. When I wash the leper's wounds, I feel I am nursing the Lord himself. Is it not a beautiful experience?
Mariah Carey: Butterflies are always following me, everywhere I go.

Mother Teresa often stated that all souls need to be converted. Contrary to what one would expect of that statement, Mother Teresa explained that the conversion was to “make the Christian a better Christian, the Muslim a better Muslim and a Hindu a better Hindu.” The statement closely follows the teachings of Mahatma Gandhi that all religions are true religions.
Mariah Carey: If critics have problems with my personal life, it's their problem. Anybody with half a brain would realize that it's the charts that count.

Perhaps it’s unfair to compare Mother Teresa to Mariah Carey. Let’s compare Mother Teresa to Mao Zedong, who on October 1, 1949, announced at Tiananmen Square, the establishment of the People's Republic of China.

Mother Teresa: When I was crossing into Gaza, I was asked at the check post whether I was carrying any weapons. I replied: Oh yes, my prayer books.

Mao Zedong: To read too many books is harmful.
Mother Teresa: A sacrifice to be real, must cost, must hurt, must empty ourselves. The fruit of silence is prayer, the fruit of prayer is faith, the fruit of faith is love, the fruit of love is service, the fruit of service is peace.
Mao Zedong: War can only be abolished through war, and in order to get rid of the gun it is necessary to take up the gun.

In her lifetime, Mother Teresa received 124 awards, which included the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Congressional Medal of Freedom. In 1979 Mother Teresa accepted the Nobel Peace Prize. She accepted the honor in the name of the poor, hungry, the sick and the lonely. She convinced the organizers to donate the money normally used for the banquet to the needy. She also built orphanages, hospitals, hospices, health clinics, homeless shelters and soup kitchens all over the world, and even honored on a postage stamp.

Some have suggested that the snub came because the application was submitted by Bill Donohue, President of the New York-based Catholic civil rights organization, but Mother Teresa was and is bigger than religion.

Mother Teresa brought the first AIDS hospice to New York City and Her Missionaries of Charity minister to the poor in the Bronx and nearby New Jersey. Inexplicably, the very city where she planted these seeds won’t honor her birthday. Perhaps the owners of the Empire State building should take to heart a quote from Mother Teresa from 1985. “No color, no religion, no nationality should come between us. We are all children of God.”

READ THE COMPLETE STORY HERE: http://www.examiner.com/x-22880-NY-Cultural-Issues-Examiner~y2010m6d10-Mother-Teresa-versus-the-Empire-State-Building-The-fight-for-lights