Washington: Nobel Peace Prize winner Mother Teresa’s picture should be put on the redesigned USD 10 note, a prominent US Republican presidential candidate said on Thursday, describing her as an inspiration to everyone.
The suggestion came during the Republican presidential debate when all the 11 candidates on the podium were asked which woman they thought should take Alexander Hamilton’s place on the USD 10 bill (note), which the Department of Treasury has announced will be redesigned in 2020.
“Well, it’s probably not, maybe, legal, but, I would pick Mother Teresa, the lady that I had a chance to meet, a woman who lived a life so much bigger than her own,” Ohio Governor John Kasich said.
“An inspiration to everyone when we think about our responsibility to love our neighbour as we love ourselves,” he said in response to the question which was posed to each of the 11 candidates. Mother Teresa was the recipient of numerous honours including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2003, she was beatified as “Blessed Teresa of Calcutta”.
A second miracle credited to her intercession is required before she can be recognised as a saint by the Catholic Church. After having lived in Yugoslavia for some thirty years, she moved to India in 1929, where she lived for most of her life.
Ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush opted for former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher as his choice for the honour. “I would go with Ronald Reagan’s partner, Margaret Thatcher. Probably illegal, but what the heck?” he said.
Presidential candidates Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz opted for Rosa Parks, an African-American Civil Rights activist, whom the United States Congress called ‘the first lady of civil rights’ and ‘the mother of the freedom movement’.
Carly Fiorina, the only woman on the podium, did not give any name. “I wouldn’t change the USD 10 bill, or the USD 20 bill. I think, honestly, it’s a gesture. I don’t think it helps to change our history. What I would think is that we ought to recognise that women are not a special interest group. “Women are the majority of this nation. We are half the potential of this nation, and this nation will be better off when every woman has the opportunity to live the life she chooses,” she argued. (PTI)
