#9 Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870
by Julia Ward Howe

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 out 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.
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This poem certainly isn’t the sort of thing that we would usually associate with mother’s day. Then again, it was written before mother’s day was a recognized holiday. Interestingly enough, the message of the poem is just as pertinent today as it was years ago. Mothers still lose their children in wars around the globe. Most interesting to me is the thought of a council of mothers from every nation getting together to solve the world’s problems. Would mothers really be better at settling international disputes than other people? I don’t think that’s the case. However, the sentiment behind the idea is an agreeable one. Any (non-monstrous!) mother surely wants to protect her children’s lives and can understand that same desire in other mothers, even those from countries on the opposing side in a war. The concept of motherhood transcends nation boundaries, even if the practices associated with mothering differ between cultures.



So anyway, let’s all extend our thanks to our mothers today! And maybe shake things up by demonstrating your progressive thought and thanking your father for mothering you too.