Although now associated with buying flowers, jewelry and suppers, Mother’s Day originated as a wish for peace.
Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts,
Whether our baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
“We will not have great questions decided 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.”
Read the rest here…
What a wonder it would be if a generation world wide could grow up without being impacted by war. What if they had governments truly concerned with the welfare of their people? What if the citizens of the world mattered more than the corporations? What if globalization meant a world wide acceptance of cultures instead of a corporate term whereby world populations are forced to fight for the shrinking wages offered?
Imagine the potential of a global population, feed, educated, housed, with access to health care and rights and freedoms.
What if this Mother’s Day no mother wept over the body of a child raped, blown apart by bombs, slowly starved, or sent back from war in a casket?
Take back the Day!
I was really struck by how relevant this poem is today, especially the bits about a “devastated Earth” & “nor violence indicate possession”. When I read it, I immediately made connections to global warming and the Iraq War. I guess the sad fact is that the motivations and rationale for war really haven’t changed since the 19th century. We may not be able to give our mothers actual peace this year, but I’m all for reclaiming Mother’s Day as a day for peace activism.