Holding To The Prayers Of Our Mothers

There is a Jewish proverb which reads, “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.” Beyond this Mother’s Day alone, I always love to hug my mother before I go to bed, and if indeed I had a single flower for every time I think and celebrate her, my sauntering in my garden would be endless and vibrant, for mothers truly are the glorious gardeners of the world. Through my mother I have inherited so much I value wholeheartedly, including my hair color, smaller hands and feet, cheeks, and certainly those bubbly, sassy giggles! (giggles) Yep, my mother is quite the quintessential Libra (born October 15th) and Libras indeed are charming, harmonious individuals who are most sensitive to the needs of others and often have a naturally psychic ability to understand the emotional needs of their loved ones and determined to fulfill them through their deep-welled optimism. Often you may hear the saying, "They always make you feel better for having been with them." and Libras are exactly the kind of people that saying is centered around. I believe it’s no accident why Libra is the only sign in the zodiac that is characterized by an inanimate object, the scales, because ever so many desire to seek this sort of synchronicity, to cooperate and compromise from conflict, and in having a friendship with any Libran, you’ll feel empathy and understanding that is literally unmatched, for Libras are that very balance that they continually seek in themselves and their lives. Of course Libras have a tendency to gossip a lot, but that’s all good! (giggles) So there is indeed a little Libra in all of us I believe, and I believe it’s through my mother that I’ve become a Scorpio who aspires to fuse my deep emotions and passions into seeking that conviviality, to be the Dove of Peace kind of Scorpio.



Indeed, often I believe many of us overlook the true origin of this day of hallmark importance. I absolutely believe it’s super-cool to give flowers and bake that annual red velvet Tuppakaka on this day. But the genuine birth of this holiday is based in 1870 America, when social activist Julia Ward Howe, a prominent American abolitionist, poet and pacifist, wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation in a call for peace and disarmament. Her efforts were inspired most of all by community activist Anna Reeves Jarvis, who as early as 1858 organized Mothers' Works Days in West Virginia, with the primary goal of improving sanitation in Appalachian communities, where during the Civil War, Jarvis inspired women to go and care for the wounded in war, and called for men as well to bury the hatchets and peacefully settle their differences. And, through her brave spirit, she made her proclamation known to the public, especially in 1872, when she called for an annual Mother’s Day for Peace:

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“Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

Say firmly: "We will not have great questions decided by
irrelevant agencies. Our husbands shall 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 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 the 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 plow 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 then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask that a
general congress of women without limit of nationality may be
appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient and at
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."

Julia Ward Howe
Boston
1870



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Howe also wrote, “Our husbands shall not come to us reeking with carnage... 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 women of one country will be too tender of
those of another country to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs". Her message inspired and reached many more Americans, and for thirty years after her public vision was shared, many women followed her in many noble causes, including calling for an end to lynching once and for all, to end slavery, better children’s care and public health, welfare assistance to the poor, and indeed held faith true to heart that America could become as civilized as ever in realizing their vision to care for the casualties of our dear nation, that indeed motherhood is a gentle yet empowering force that gardens the fullest promise of America and the justice and liberty it indoctrinates.



Sadly, as with many of the holidays in which we cherish dearly, Mother’s Day has become entangled in consumer culture in modern times, and ever too much now have women become re-defined as consumers to the family, as have the visions that made this day possible been ignored. Indeed flowers can bring a smile to any woman’s heart, but there are millions of women worldwide who still need and lack access to basic, essential qualities to life including health care, living wages and child care for their children. It’s in the integrity, the intuitiveness beating deep in the hearts of Howe and her believers, that can still make this munificent dream most possible. My optimism is most bright in that I absolutely believe voices of this generation are continuing to pass Howe’s tenderhearted torch forward, for as Albert Schweitzer said, “In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.” It’s not just mothers either who are doing so, it’s many men as well, for as my dear poet friend Sharon (Mysteria) says, Happy Mother’s Day is for “all those that "Mother", including caregivers, pet lovers, and single dads out there.”



In other parts of the world, Mother’s Day takes on other meanings and are held on different days. For instance, in the United Kingdom, Mother’s Day is also known as “Mothering Sunday”, and is celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent, often believed to have originated from the Christian practice of visiting ones mother church every year, in that families would be reunited on this day, and it’s even widely believed that young apprentices and young women in servitude were released by their masters on this weekend so that they could go and visit their families.



Indeed, as y’all can tell following along with my Serotonin Sandbox, I believe there is no thing more polarizing and poisonous than politics in our world, thus that’s why I refuse to talk about politics as much as possible and wish to harness an alternative blog atmosphere here that centers around the harmony, altruism and laughter that will always continue to tintinnabulate as we find our way through the adversities thick and thin. However, I also believe that war is the deadliest force, always driven by some political influence, that tears families, environments and hearts apart, thus occasionally I believe it’s in my true consciousness as a citizen, a human being and, truly, as a son to God’s universal family and sibling to Earth‘s global family, to speak of these issues here in a most diplomatic and non-partisan, yet serious and truthful manner. I believe everything about the ongoing war in Iraq is morally wrong and as with any war, it will always be a lose-lose situation for mankind, and further de-harmonizes cultures and peoples far and wide. I also believe it’s through the imagination and intuition of “gardeners” like Lowe that we can find redress to the humanitarian crisis in Sudan, among other situations facing our global community today.



I believe I obtained my deep innate sense of justice through my mother, much of this sort of spiritual activist blood was transmitted deep from her aorta. And for that I am most thankful in that I’ve become a far more better, compassionate, empathetic individual through her unconditional belief in universal liberty. And that, to me, is motherhood in its most purest form.



A Chinese proverb reads, “There is only one pretty child in the world, and every mother has it.” Indeed, our mothers all are children themselves, and it is through being reminded of this that we must celebrate our mothers beyond this day alone, for their mission is constant and spans far beyond a year’s cycle, even the cycle of a generation or a lifetime. So reach out, and give your mother a teddy bear hug, and just for good measure, give her a hug every time you visit her. (smiles)

“A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.”

Irish Proverb

XOXO,
Noah Eaton
(Mistletoe Angel)
(Emmanuel Endorphin)