Daily Times

For a child who loves his mother, each day has a little celebratory note to manifest how much she means to him. No specific day is required to declare the most special bond, the unbreakable tie, the matchless relationship a child has with the woman who gave birth to him, and nurtured and loved him all his life. The feeling is constant, the love eternal, but just like there is a desire to celebrate all that is good and positive, one day is marked to highlight the singularly unique place a mother has in her child’s life, thus emhasising the importance of acknowledgment and appreciation of all that she does, selflessly, and all her life. The day — when the child/children express their love and gratitude verbally, through handmade cards, chocolates, flowers, and even gifts — becomes that one special day when the mother stops being a giver and becomes a recipient. The most special bond in the world is endowed a small acknowledgment, and is thereby strengthened further.

In 1870, an American woman, Julia Ward Howe, in a pacifist’s reaction to the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, proclaimed a ‘Mother’s Day’. The modern day version came into existence when Anna Jarvis, after a memorial for her mother, initiated the campaign to make it a recognised holiday in 1908. Despite succeeding in her efforts in 1914, ironically, by 1920, the ‘commercialisation’ of the holiday had disillusioned her. By that time, nonetheless, a number of countries had adopted her holiday, and to date, Mother’s Day is celebrated all over the world.

Notwithstanding the label of being called a ‘Hallmark holiday’, with exaggerated commercial overtones, it is still considered one of the most important days of any mother and child’s personal calendar. Albeit based on personal feelings, it becomes a symbol of the importance of celebrating motherhood, maternal bonds, and in consequence, the tangible underlying influence of mothers on the shaping of the mores of a society. The values, qualities, principles and traditions a child imbibes from his parents and especially his mother, become the criterion of his interaction with different social groups — academic, professional, personal — throughout his life as an adult. On a simpler level, the unconditional and consistent love of a mother ingrains a sense of security and self-assurance in a child, hence indoctrinating in him, at an unconscious level, the capacity to emphathise with the world in general. A loved, protected and guided child today is the kindhearted, considerate and open-minded grown up of tomorrow. That is a mother’s biggest gift to her child, herself, her family, and society. In recognition of the role of all mothers, we must remind ourselves that they are also women, whose rights situation is far from satisfactory. Let us dedicate today to fixing that as our tribute to to all mothers. *