What Mother’s Day is all about? It’s a day for celebrating our mothers. Pretty simple right? Well, it’s more than just posting a photo of mothers on social media. For ages, mothers have been looked at as the epitome of perfection, probably the best role model a child can ever have. Back then Mother’s Day was more of a political movement. Ann Reeves Jarvis, a peace activist from West Virginia, started Mother’s Day Work Clubs” where mothers were taught how to properly take care of their offsprings Later these clubs became a unifying force in a country that was divided due to the Civil War. She organized Mother’s Friendship Day” where mothers of all nationalities raised their voices in favour of peace amongst the nations. In 1870, Julia Ward Howes asked mothers to unite in promoting world peace and cooperation. In 1968, Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr utilised Mother’s Day to host a march in support of the underprivileged kids and women. Anna Jarvis, daughter of Ann Reeves, walked in the footsteps of her mother. After her mother’s demise, Anna Jarvis organised a memorial service for her s Methodist Episcopal Church, which was also the first official Mother’s Day celebration. It took place in Grafton. She looked at Mother’s Day as a way of respecting the sacrifices mothers made for their children.
She promoted wearing white carnations to respect the mothers who have lost their lives. She wanted Mother’s Day to be an official holiday in the USA, as she believed that American holidays glorified the sacrifices of men. In 1914, Mother’s Day became an official holiday in the USA. Anna Jarvis was successful in her mission.
But soon Mother’s Day started to lose its true meaning. It soon became a medium of profiteering for the capitalists. People fell into these traps. The love and affection towards the mothers became materialistic. Love was measured by the price of the presents which were given. Anna Jarvis publicly condemned the commercialization of Mother’s Day and even made efforts to remove it from the official holiday status which she campaigned for a few years back. Unfortunately, today Mother’s Day is still a medium of money-making for the capitalists. It has become all about rosy pictures on social media. It’s no longer about the sentiment. Mother’s Day is not just about celebrating motherhood, it’s about celebrating all kinds of motherhood. We tend to restrict its meaning with the celebration of biological mothers. Mothers with strained relationships with their kids, mothers who had miscarriages, stepmothers-it’s for celebrating all of them. Perfect motherhood is a myth. Motherhood is about embracing the flaws and accepting the reality and making the child learn about it too. Mothers are looked at as nurturers, the only role accepted and celebrated by ety in the present times. Not all mothers are the same and their differences are what gives them their identity and Mother’s Day should be about celebrating these differences. Never reject a mother just because she doesn’t qualify your definition of a mother. Mothers too have goals in their lives, goals other than raising a child. It’s time that we understand that all mothers don’t identify as women, respect them for who they are. Anyone capable enough to provide love and care is worthy of being celebrated, not one day but every day. Mothers chained in the shackles of patriarchy are not to be shown pity rather be given a helping hand to come out from the chains that tie them with the pillar of toxic masculinity. Mother-the word is a unifying force in itself, it’s us who assign certain definitions to it, those are rotten definitions. Not all definitions are found in the dictionary, some are made up in our minds and our minds need reprogramming, just like the computers need. The old version is replaced with a new one. It’s the same asasasion of mothers. That needs reprogramming too. Mothers all over the world are striving for acceptance, and society is just pushing them backwards. We have formed a boundary around our mind and we refrain to step out of it. And when we see a mother stepping out of that boundary, we make sure to use all our force to push her back, because we think that’s where she belongs. It’s us who can expand that boundary, but what do we fear? We fear rebellion. Let there be rebellion for freedom. “Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high”-we all are familiar with these lines by the great poet Rabindranath Tagore. Let us all join our hands together so that our mothers can hold their heads high and find out the true meaning of Mother’s Day.
