Sharra, If we've heard it once we've heard it a thousand times: HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
But when I spoke today at Hillside International Church in Atlanta, I pointed out that millions of mothers in America today would not be best described as happy.
Millions of American mothers are deeply concerned for their children – for their health, their safety, and their ability to get a higher education. Many mothers are grieving their children – including those whose children were lost to gun violence.
Many would-be mothers have come to the excruciating decision that given the state of the world today, they don't feel they can responsibly bring a child into the world
None of that is normal, and none of it is in any way acceptable in the richest country in the world. The mothers I know are deeply concerned, and one brunch a year won't fix that.
I am running for president because the plight of today's American mother is inextricably tied to the plight of the American child, and in the name of all mothers I want to see fundamental change. |
Every year I read the original Mother's Day Proclamation, written by Julia Ward Howe in 1870. It wasn't created by "happy" mothers. They were mothers of sons who died in the Civil War fighting for the Union, and mothers of sons who died fighting in the war for the Confederacy, gathered in mutual grief and in sorrow. They wanted the mothers of the world to come together and find a better way.
Mother's Day would later be turned into a rather ridiculous parody of its original intent, as though taking mothers to brunch and buying us flowers would be enough to "honor" us. No, the honor we are due will only come from listening to us. Mothers needed to be listened to in 1870, and we need to be listened to today.
Today I honor Anna Jarvis, Julia Ward Howe and all the other women who gathered to create the first Mother's Day resolution. And I honor all the mothers I know, and those whom I do not know, who feel as I do that the deep concern of American mothers today is a cry of the heart which must no longer be neglected.
In actual honor of Mother's Day, let's put our children first. Let's put our wisdom first.
Let's join in truly honoring Mother's Day this year! What better way than to put a mother in the White House? |
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