I can't help but think about Mother's Day a little differently this year. My family will be doing the usual traditions. I will be celebrating with All the Worlds Children, hopefully with a few quiet moments (and no world wars).
So many moms will get to enjoy the day with their kids, but for some, this will be their first Mother's Day without their child. Parents like those who lost children at Chardon and the Parkland, Florida school shootings, in the tragic bus crash of the Humboldt Broncos Hockey team in Canada, or to childhood cancer and the countless others who have died this year. All moms, whether their kids go to school, play sports, or have been impacted by a family illness, can relate to fears of losing a loved one.
So this Mother's Day, while it's a happy time, take a moment to think about the others who won't be celebrating, but will instead be mourning. If you know someone personally who is grieving, send them a note or gift - something small in recognition of their loss. Or consider donating to a cause this year, such as building the National Coast-to-Coast 'Great American Peace Trail' to Stem the Violence in America's Youth and Unite America.
This year as always, we hope to bring families together and help them enjoy everything Iceality has to offer, from providing a calendar of events for the littlest ones to your older crew, or in our final call for a sustainable global culture of peace for all living things!
The clearest modern precedent for Mother’s Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.” Once a major tradition in Europe, this celebration fell on the fourth Sunday in Lent and was originally seen as a time when the faithful would return to their “mother church”—the main church in the vicinity of their home—for a special service.
Over time the Mothering Sunday tradition shifted into a more public holiday, and children would present their mothers with flowers and other tokens of appreciation. The American incarnation of Mother’s Day as celebrated in the United States date back to the 19th century. In the years before the Civil War, Ann Reeves Jarvis of West Virginia helped start “Mothers’ Day Work Clubs” to teach local women how to properly care for their children.
These clubs later became a unifying Mother’s Day peace force in the region of the country still divided over the Civil War. In 1868 Jarvis organized “Mothers’ Friendship Day,” at which mothers gathered with former Union and Confederate soldiers to promote reconciliation by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and Mother’s Day became an official U.S. holiday in 1914.
At times, Mother’s Day has also been a date for launching political or feminist causes. In 1968 Coretta Scott King, wife of Martin Luther King Jr., used Mother’s Day to host a march in support of underprivileged women and children. For 2018 I think it would be a good time to use the holiday as a time to highlight the need for equal rights for All the Worlds Children as promoted by the Worlds Children Peace Monument (WCPM).
So, this Mother's Day, remember meeting those very special moms who gave you encouragement to the ways they manage motherhood and make things a little easier,
even when times are tough.
In the spirit of sharing love, try to focus on the special people and women in your life
who believe in making the world a better place for each other and all the Worlds Children.
You may also enjoy the 295 posters voluntarily created by Pakistani Peace Emissary Dr Abdul Jabbar Brohi has done for All the Worlds Children. His positive beliefs and encouragement has had a profound impact on bringing peace and love to us and all the Worlds Children.
This Mothers Day, hugg them all extra tight and be hopeful for the good that is to come to them this Year.
Peace Friends~
Anbassador Renate
