My Mother’s Day

“For the hand that rocks the cradle

                           Is the hand that rules the world”   — W. S. Ross

Though being a person of the 21st century I am pretty sure that these are the words which encouraged Anna Jarvis to set the foundation of Mother’s Day in the USA. Anna Jarvis’ mother had always a desire in her heart that there be a day for the celebration of motherhood. So was her desire fulfilled? Yes, it was; as her own daughter set the foundation of the Mother’s Day following her death in 1907. The first Mother’s Day was celebrated in 1907, when Anna Jarvis held the first Mother’s Day service of worship at Andrews Methodist Episcopal Church in Grafton, West Virginia. In 1908, the U.S. Congress refused Anna Jarvis’ request to nationalize Mother’s Day holiday by joking that they would then also have to make a separate holiday known as Mother-in-law’s Day. But, by 1911 most U.S. states had started celebrating Mother’s Day as a local holiday. So, finally, in 1914, Woodrow Wilson declared Mother’s Day a national holiday in the U.S. which was to be celebrated on the second Sunday of May in order to honour mothers.

Today is 22nd May, 2021. Almost 107 years have passed by after the celebration of the first Mother’s Day in the U.S. Today, not only U.S. but all countries celebrate Mother’s Day as a national holiday. Most of the countries celebrate Mother’s Day on the second Sunday of May. But some countries celebrate Mother’s Day on their own dates. However, irrespective of the fact that on which Day is Mother’s day celebrated; Mother’s Day has now become an international phenomenon. Although almost 107 years have passed following the first Mother’s Day, mothers are still not given their due respect. Children fail to understand the importance of their mothers. Adults are also not an exception. They too follow the same trend. We often tend to misunderstand the worrying of our mothers as their over thinking. But only a mother knows what will be the best for her child.

I am Jahin, an insignificant Sapiens living in a small corner of the world in the city of Kolkata. The world is unaware o my presence and I am unimportant to the world. But for my mother, I am her world. I am person who never celebrated or celebrates Mother’s Day. Does that mean that I am inhumane and I don’t love my mother or is it the opposite? I think that all mothers of the world should be given gifts or loved for all 365 days of the year (or 366 if it’s a leap year). Why do we need to love our mothers only on the Mother’s Day and not every day? Yes I also agree to the fact that there is also a need for celebrating Mother’s Day in order to celebrate motherhood. But that does not mean that we should only love our mothers on Mother’s Day.

 Now coming to the main point, we can say that Mother’s Day is extremely necessary but it is useless if all the mothers of the world are not given their due respect throughout the year. My Mother’s Day will be that day when all mothers will be treated well by their children and when all Old age homes will be closed. There is no use of celebrating Mother’s Day if children don’t take care of their mothers and send them to Old age homes. 

But some people are still there whose love for their mothers cannot be matched by anyone in the world. For instance, let’s take a recent example. Just a year ago, a photo became viral on social media. It was the photo of a man who was sitting out the window of the hospital looking at her mother who was COVID positive. Because the hospital authorities denied him permission because of his safety; so he decided to take advanced measures which show the extreme love for his mother. This incident happened in July 2020 in Palestine. The man’s name was Jihad Al-Suwaiti who used to pay visit to his mother by climbing up to the window of Intensive Care Unit of Hebron State Hospital. But fortune is very unjust. Sadly, his mother passed away.

Thus to conclude Mother’s Day continues to a great event for us in this digital era of the 21st century. A mother’s love for her child is always pure and eternal which cannot be matched with any other love of the world. Hence I end here with a quote, which is as follows:-

                                       “A mother is a mother still,

                                          The holiest thing alive.”      —  Coleridge

                                                                     Authored by

                                                                                   Jahin Sadat Mollah