Real Motive behind Mother's day

Hi,

Since I have seen so many thought provoking discussions on this wonderful mailing list, I believe some of you might be interested in knowing the real motive behind Mother's day. I am copy-pasting the brief text from this link which has a more complete discussion.

http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/05/06/142226

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Julia Ward Howe was very interested by the time she got to the 1870s in the Women's Movement, the Women’s Suffrage Movement, in particular, and the Franco-Prussian War – it’s not a war that most Americans or probably even most Europeans think too much about. But in 1870, she looked at this war and she began asking herself, you know, why is it that nations do this to one another, and in particular, she began thinking about what might be possible for women to do on behalf of humanity. And women in this day and age were supposed to be confined to the home. They weren't supposed to be out making speeches or working for political change. And Howe really wanted to find a way for women to express what she thought was an innate nature of love for God and love for humans. She thought that being a mother really was a powerful experience and that after having been a mother, no one could willingly see their sons go off to war to be slaughtered, so she began to organize on behalf of women for peace, basically. And again, her theory was men just seem to be innately aggressive, and the only hope for civilization is for women to speak a different kind of voice. So, she held peace conferences both in the United States and in Britain, and by 1872, she began proclaiming that June 2 every year would be a Mother's Day for Peace. And so, Mother's Day originally was not a day when dad cooked and you went to church, and the ladies got applause and everything. It was really a day for women to come together and to call men and the world to see the necessity for living in peace, rather than giving into the ravages and aggressions of war. So, yeah, Mother's Day is really a day of activism.

Regards
Nihar

Hello Nihark ,
Thanks a lot for ur beautiful and informative narration regarding Mothers day.
This is the 1st time,I have really understood the significance of Mother's Day----that it is actually a day of activism and a symbolic day of world peace.

Speaking of World Peace ,---I truly feel that the 1st concrete step (acc. to my view) that should be taken ,----is to remove the stray feeling of petty Nationalism and communalism.

We really have to think beyond the scope of physical demarcations created by the geological ,as well as the political and religious fraternities.

The world is a very small space today,and unlesss we can loudly say---"We are neither Hindus,nor Muslims,nor Sikhs ,nor Christians-----we are neither Indians,nor Pakistanis,--niether Nazis,nor Palestenians----we are the "World"---we are a "Global Community"--we live for each other,and stand beside each other--whenever we can --whatever way we can---under whats so ever the circumstances might be" --- a true world peace can never prevail.

I truly believe that nobody is a born criminal---barring a few ,---who may have a psycho-genetic disorder(that too probably have its roots to the socio-political injustice that their ancestors had to suffer in some past generations)---if a proper enjoyable atmosphere can be prevailed---(u must see the film--"MunnabhaiMBBS"---one example among many others)----then even the most cold blodded hard-core criminal can become a true human---and can really become an indeginous missile for the cause of "MANKIND".
Thanks and Regards,
joy_mitali

hi thanks for the information
nice to be with you all
emotions may not have a say in the stock markets but it really means so much in every ones life
beda

Nihar's post makes interesting reading. President Abraham Lincoln had written a wondeful letter to a lady who had lost 5 sons in the civil war. Mr Lincoln being a man of letters, that was one of the finest letters ever written.

Considering the fact that the 21st century belongs to mother/servant leadership, its a very apt post.

The word mother also reminds of Mother Teresa who also believed and lived some of the things joy has written.

Last but not the least, the very fact that people tend to use "motherland" and never fatherland says it all.

Dear Sh50,
In europe,one country peoples call Fatherland ,u call mother father,yet place,whereu live becomes dear to u ,mother does the work of the creator to which v are unable to understand ,yet a creator in front of u ,v get created and v create that is beauty of unending life wich is eternal.
With regards to nihar for his lovely piece of information,
ursnks.

Hi,

Thank you everyone. I am glad that you liked my post. Joy has made an extremely bold and pertinent point. "Vaudhaiva kutumbakam" The whole world is a nest. It is a dream of many people to see a borderless society. But one should understand that the process of achieving the borderless society will be painful for many people and happy for many others. I find it very strange that in America, the country which started the no trader barriers, WTO etc., people are becoming more and more enthusiastic about buying products made in their own country,state,cities,neighbourhood. It is very difficult for the people here to come to terms with a borderless society. The american dream of having a 4 days and less work week has been shattered, starting with IT outsourcing. But on the other hand, many countries including India are benefitting from the same. So it will be a tough road ahead to have a borderless world....hmmm....who knows the world may be actually flat Talking of a flat, recently a famous Newyork Times journalist Thomas Friedman wrote a book "The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century" He writes columns in Indian Express and I believe those columns are from his book. They make for good reading. Here is a link to one of his articles
http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=46128

Regards
Nihar