Tuesday
10Feb2009
Does Nadya Suleman Have One up on Mother Theresa?
Tuesday, February 10, 2009 at 09:39AM
Octoplets! Octuplets! Octuplets! Octuplets! Octuplets! Octuplets! Octuplets! Octuplets!
Cyber-reams of text have already dissected this troubled woman/family from every angle imaginable.
But something struck me about her remarks to Ann Curry (Thanks for giving this fruitcake a forum, NBC, then counting on vapid, squishy-brained individuals like me to check it out.) that took my reactions deeper than knee-jerk voyeurism.
When Curry asked Nadya Suleman the $64,000 question -- How would she feed 14 mouths? -- Octomom predictably invoked God:
“I will feed them. I will do the best I possibly can. And in my own way, in my own faith, I do believe wholeheartedly that God will provide in his own way."
Now, the diatribe against this woman's naivete, and her use of God in a situation that sounds more like something out of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been masterfully done all over the blogosphere.
But something about her unruffled recitation of the "God-Will-Provide" canard made me think of the late Mother Theresa. I mean, there's someone who knew about feeding multitudes against incredible odds. Surely, she held this same unshakeable confidence in God, right? Seriously, how else could she have showered the poorest of Kolkata's poor with food, education, leprosy treatments, and love without an unwavering belief in the presence of God? Come on! She was Mother-Flipping-Theresa!
Well, not so fast.
The Nobel Prize-winning nun left behind confessional letters that were published after her death. They revealed periods of unrelenting darkness in Mother Theresa's life, during which she felt pressure to "keep on smiling at God and all" in spite of a private, gnawing sense of emptiness and faithlessness.
"Where I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul," she wrote. "Love -- the word -- it brings nothing."
Wow. Who knows? Maybe these dark stretches of doubt stemmed from bearing witness to incredible, seemingly uncontrollable human suffering in God's name for many decades.
Bear with me. I'm chipping away at a kernel of an idea here: If a woman publicly revered for faith in God her entire adult life -- whose "career" hinged on belief in God's ability to provide -- experienced such dramatic periods of burnout, does Octomom really stand a chance of remaining theologically chipper and optimistic?
And if she does sputter out in the faith department, does she have the character and maturity to soldier on, changing diapers and running a 24-hour mess hall in her cramped home even when it ceases to be fun and rewarding?
Maybe God (read: people of conscience who know they are being played, yet worry for these kids) will provide. But even if her kids are food-secure, will Ms. Suleman be able to continue on as the guru of pure love who currently calls money "superfluous" and "just paper"?
For the next 20 years? And in the face of her kids' probable ongoing health concerns?
Maybe we've got her all wrong: maybe Octomom knows something that even Mother Theresa didn't.
I sure hope so for the sake of her megabrood.
Cyber-reams of text have already dissected this troubled woman/family from every angle imaginable.
But something struck me about her remarks to Ann Curry (Thanks for giving this fruitcake a forum, NBC, then counting on vapid, squishy-brained individuals like me to check it out.) that took my reactions deeper than knee-jerk voyeurism.
When Curry asked Nadya Suleman the $64,000 question -- How would she feed 14 mouths? -- Octomom predictably invoked God:
“I will feed them. I will do the best I possibly can. And in my own way, in my own faith, I do believe wholeheartedly that God will provide in his own way."
Now, the diatribe against this woman's naivete, and her use of God in a situation that sounds more like something out of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein has been masterfully done all over the blogosphere.
But something about her unruffled recitation of the "God-Will-Provide" canard made me think of the late Mother Theresa. I mean, there's someone who knew about feeding multitudes against incredible odds. Surely, she held this same unshakeable confidence in God, right? Seriously, how else could she have showered the poorest of Kolkata's poor with food, education, leprosy treatments, and love without an unwavering belief in the presence of God? Come on! She was Mother-Flipping-Theresa!
Well, not so fast.
The Nobel Prize-winning nun left behind confessional letters that were published after her death. They revealed periods of unrelenting darkness in Mother Theresa's life, during which she felt pressure to "keep on smiling at God and all" in spite of a private, gnawing sense of emptiness and faithlessness.
"Where I try to raise my thoughts to heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul," she wrote. "Love -- the word -- it brings nothing."
Wow. Who knows? Maybe these dark stretches of doubt stemmed from bearing witness to incredible, seemingly uncontrollable human suffering in God's name for many decades.
Bear with me. I'm chipping away at a kernel of an idea here: If a woman publicly revered for faith in God her entire adult life -- whose "career" hinged on belief in God's ability to provide -- experienced such dramatic periods of burnout, does Octomom really stand a chance of remaining theologically chipper and optimistic?
And if she does sputter out in the faith department, does she have the character and maturity to soldier on, changing diapers and running a 24-hour mess hall in her cramped home even when it ceases to be fun and rewarding?
Maybe God (read: people of conscience who know they are being played, yet worry for these kids) will provide. But even if her kids are food-secure, will Ms. Suleman be able to continue on as the guru of pure love who currently calls money "superfluous" and "just paper"?
For the next 20 years? And in the face of her kids' probable ongoing health concerns?
Maybe we've got her all wrong: maybe Octomom knows something that even Mother Theresa didn't.
I sure hope so for the sake of her megabrood.
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