Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Arise Sons and Daughters!

Sunday is Mothers' Day. According to Wikipedia, the idea was imported from Britain by social activist Julia Ward Howe after the Great Civil War. Her intent was to unite women against war. Her original Mothers Day proclamation was a call for peace and disarmament. It was "Arise, then, women of this day!"
This, of course, was before Hallmark and, if you're a good son/daughter, taking mom out to lunch. Commercialization is now rampant and restaurants and florists love it!
Why not spend the day writing Congress and Senators?! Speak out against the war! Arise sons and daughters! Make mom proud!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Amen. Sing it loud.

Sally "COUGAR" Snoddy said...

On the flip side to that, I know some mothers that are very proud of their offspring for the patriotic paths that they have oh so chosen....example, My grandmother was as proud as she could be of her son that did 2 tours in Vietnam and that was was about as useful as the one we're fighting today. So as mothers, we have to support the path that our children so choose to take, no matter where it leads them because, as mothers, isn't that what we're suppose to do? Lord knows yo momma did!

Virgil said...

Sally:
I don't believe your position and that of Abuelita are inconsistent. If you're talking about my momma supporting my path, you're right. Granny, Dial Pearl Estelle Snoddy Prim, however could not get beyond Clan Snoddy's itch to fight. When I told her that I wasn't going to Viet Nam, she said, "Don't be talkin like that. They're killing um off like flies over there every day, so they'll probably need you."

Sally "COUGAR" Snoddy said...

Never the less, I do agree with Abuelita, and on Mother's Day I will take a stand and NOT play into the commercialization of it all and let mom by her own damn meal! No, I can't do that; I've all ready got reservations.....never mind.

Abuelita said...

Sally, I, too had a loved one serve in Viet Nam (USMC) and his family was proud, too. His daddy, a WWII vet, glad to see his only child fighting "those commies over there". I hope he'd been as proud if he'd chosen the Peace Corps instead.
I'm just wishing there was a different, less costly way, to disagree.
Ike said, "Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed." Perhaps our wars need to be against injustice and poverty.
Good for you Sally...enjoy lunch!

Sally "COUGAR" Snoddy said...

UPDATE:
At the Mother's Day Lunch I shared w/ Dial the history on how Hallmark messed this up for "our women of this day". She agreed and said we should revolt! I think I'm clear now for Mother's Day!