Planet Waves | from Jude on May 8, 2005
In the
States, it's Mother's Day. I wish a day of blessing, then, to those of you who
are mothers, or those of you who have one.
The historical essence
of this day is the celebration of goddess ... woman energy. In our current
culture, honoring Mom is a handy and somewhat covert way to remain aware of the
Divine Feminine without actually saying so and getting everybody riled up. This
honoring of the feminine has had many iterations over the centuries, in
almost every culture, but I am particularly moved by that of Julia Ward Howe in
1872. The article below speaks to that, and for me, today.
Happy
Mothers Day ~
Jude
Watch out: Becoming a Mother Changes
Everything Mary Babic May 7, 2005 by
CommonDreams.org http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0507-27.htm
Here's
what I'd like for Mother's Day: No flowers. No candy. Not even a card, however
hip and humorous.
Because right now, being a mother feels like the most
perilous and primal job I will ever have. And a box of chocolates will do
nothing to appease my passion and anger.
When my daughters slammed out
of my body years ago, it seemed logical and satisfying - the end result of nine
months of eating cheese and spinach, buying diaper genies and tiny sweaters. I
was ready for all the changes in my life.
But I wasn't at all prepared
for what was about to happen to me. Nobody warns you about the astounding
phenomenon of becoming a mother. Oh, plenty of pundits cover the physical
transformations -- the drooping boobs, the spongy abdomen-- and the fiscal
implications; and the lifestyle shifts. But nobody, just nobody, lets you in on
the dirty secret: mothers are different, and mothering makes you different.
Sometimes, mothering is the shiny, soft-focus experience sold in
greeting cards and telephone commercials: giggles in bed, cookie dough in the
kitchen, hugs in the playground. And sometimes it's the hair-pulling,
head-pounding experience you have in the morning: stumbling on Legos in the
bedroom, realizing homework isn't done, hustling to find clean underwear and
pull the lumps out of bed to get to school on time.
And sometimes, just
sometimes, it's as primal and bloody as life ever gets. The lioness instinct to
draw a big paw around them and pull them close to the chest, to protect them
from everything the world offers: cold, hunger, taunting, fast food, dirty
magazines, uncomfortable shoes. Every day is a challenge to the tiny, warm world
inside our house.
And lately, the challenge has grown so much bigger.
Because - and it seems hard to remember, most days, when media is dominated by
pop stars' pregnancies and "American Idol" results - our country is at war. We
are engaged in a deadly war in a country far away. How is this not at the
forefront of our minds and hearts every day? How do the mothers bear it?
Yes, the world has grown darker and colder since 9/11; and I feel that
anxiety for myself and my children. But the choices we have made in the wake of
the attacks have only exacerbated what was wrong all along.
It seems
like the U.S. has taken a big crayon and drawn all over the world: here are the
bad guys, we can bomb them; here are the good guys, we'll send them more bombs
of their own. Black and white, evil and liberty, wrong and right.
Well,
I'll tell you what I see: mothers and children. Sometimes, I see American
mothers here at home: waiting and praying for their children to come back from
wars on foreign soil; watching the news and wondering how much longer their sons
can dodge the snipers' bullets. So many years of wiping tears and making
macaroni and mending pants - to be canceled by what? A man in his own land, with
his own government, who does not want to be occupied any longer. Who sees her
son as an enemy. The kid who played with super hero dolls and sang in the choir.
And sometimes, I see Iraqi mothers, and their children. They endured
Saddam Hussein; they endured a war to oust him; they are now enduring scarce
resources and ongoing violence, the daily losses of life and limbs.
So
what I want for Mother's Day this year: a commitment to peace. A commitment to
find a way to get our troops out of Iraq, and to let the Iraqis create their own
future. As a mother, I want to protect my children; and the children in other
countries.
This isn't a new idea. In 1872, horrified by the
Franco-Prussian war, reeling from the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe created
Mother's Peace Day. She believed we needed a day set aside for people to enact
the values of motherhood: values that "make for peace." The idea was to honor
what would keep mothers' sons from being brutalized by war. It was to honor
peace, and mothers' role in keeping their children safe. She worried not just
about death and destruction, maiming and disfigurement. She cared that husbands
and sons were made into killers. She saw all the work of mothers undone: "Our
sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach
them of mercy, charity, and patience."
She wondered "Why do not the
mothers of mankind interfere in these matters, to prevent the waste of human
life of which they alone know and bear the cost?" Her words ring out today.
And I'll tell you: mothers are ready to stand up, and to say: leave my
children out of it. ++
Mary Babic is the Director of Communications
at WAND (Women's Action for New Directions) she can be reached at
mbabic@wand.org | www.wand.org
Eric Francis is on holiday.
Jude, the editor of Political Waves, is standing in for his
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