Teresa Hsu

I went to an event last evening where I listened to an amazing woman.  Considered the Mother Teresa of Singapore, Teresa Hsu arrived here in 1961 to care for her ailing mother and founded the Home for the Aged Sick in Singapore.  She is now 114 years old, is sharp, funny, humble and driven, still, to care for the poorest of the poor.  It was a privilege to be in the room with her and listen to her gems of wisdom.



Hsu said whenever she was faced with a problem, she would try to solve it but if she could not, then she just accepted it.

To another question, she said she wasn’t born naturally caring but shared an incident that deeply affected and changed her. Her late mother once dug up potatoes to feed the family but gave away the entire pot to a starving beggar who arrived at their doorstep with a child.
“That was the day I learnt that to give what you have in your hand to others is a great blessing,” she said.

When asked how important religion was to her, Hsu said, “Nobody ever told me what a religion was”.
She cited an incident when a Buddhist man and a Christian lady were arguing and singing praises about their respective religions.
She told them, “Brother and sister, there’s just one door”.
When asked the secret to her longevity and good health, Hsu responded, “Ha, ha, ha! Make sure your heart is always happy”.


Here is a YouTube link to a blurb about her on CNN: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msVGPOTG37Q.