A Mother's Day Wish

I usually think of Mother's Day as a Hallmark Holiday thought up by clever entrepreneurs to line their pockets with money and make children who cannot deliver feel guilty. Of all the Hallmark Holidays I have been annoyed with over the years, Mother's Day and Father's Day at least seemed like a worthy reason for celebration. I mean it seems like a good thing to honor those who gave us life, and for me there are lots of ways to do that without buying into the whole capitalistic spending frenzy. But, as I thought about the prospect of being without the company of my children this year, I thought I might just ignore the whole thing, except, of course, for a call to my own dear mother, whom I cherish. She deserves my honor and my love, which makes it very easy to give freely and willingly.

As I further contemplated the coming of Mother's Day this week, I did a little research and found the origins of Mother's Day in the United States. I was both surprised and pleased by what I found. I will no longer look at this holiday as a dreaded Hallmark Holiday again, but revere it's original purpose and celebrate the power of women everywhere.

Julia Ward Howe was born in New York City on May 27, 1819. Her family was well respected and wealthy. She was a published poet and abolitionist. She and her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, co-published the anti-slavery newspaper The Commonwealth. Julia was active in the peace movement and the women's suffrage movement. In 1870, she penned the Mother's Day Proclamation. In 1872, the Mothers Peace Day Observance on the second Sunday in June was held and the meetings continued for several years. Her idea was widely accepted, but she was never able to get the day recognized as an official holiday. The Mothers Peace Day was the beginning of the Mother's Day holiday we now celebrate in May.

The modern, commercialized celebration of gifts, flowers and candy bears little resemblance to Howe's original idea. Here is the Proclamation that explains the goals of the original Mother's Day in the United States:

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the bosom of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil at the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if on some distant Mother's Day, the wishes of Julia Ward Howe could be fulfilled and the human race could celebrate a day when, all over the world, no mother would have to mourn the death of her child lost in war or terrorist attacks.

To all of the mothers whose children are fighting in wars and to mothers whose children are growing up with wars raging around them or with terrorism threatening their safety... Wishes of strength, peace and hope for this Mother's Day.

To all of the mothers in my personal circle, my sisters and sisters-in-law, my cousins, my aunts and my friends. I honor you today knowing in my heart you do your very best to tend your children with love, and I thank you for that in the name of peace.

And to Louise Mercedes Long, I would not be without you. Through your strength you gave me life, with your honesty you showed me the gift of my own motherhood, and everyday you share with me the wisdom of your experience and the light of your example to guide my way with every breath.

Thanks, Mom. I love you with all that I am.

Happy Mother's Day.