Mother's Day

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Note: Photo is of a house near mine altered with the SuperBladePro plug-in then overlaid with text.

Mother's Day was originally intended as a call to action promoting peace by mothers who had lost their sons in the horrendous toll of the Civil War. By calling for living in peace and an amicable settlement of international questions, it is as relevant today as it was then. President Woodrow Wilson declared the first national Mother's Day in 1914 as a day for American citizens to show the flag in honor of those mothers whose sons had died in war.

Hallmark and other commercial interests are undoubtedly to blame for our loss of the original intention of the day. Not that honoring our own awesome mothers is a bad thing ... but allowing commercial enterprises to unduly influence our lives and how we live isn't a good thing. It has led to rabid consumerism which is wrecking havoc on our planet.

From the original Mother's Day Proclamation by Julia Ward Howe:

"We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience...

"As men have often forsaken the plow and 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 take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the human family can live in peace...to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, the amicable settlement of international questions, and the great and general interests of peace."

- Julia Ward Howe (1870)