I love Mother’s Day. I can’t wait for the homemade gifts, the special breakfast crafted with the help of tiny hands and served with sticky kisses. It is a time when I contemplate my own motherhood and the value of close family.
But a few years ago, Mother’s Day became so much more than those wonderful sticky kisses – it became a day that I work to demand a safe, bountiful and meaningful life for all the world’s children.
Julia Ward Howe penned the Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. She called on women to “arise,” and wrote, “let women now leave all that may be left of home for a great and earnest day of counsel. Let them meet first as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead. Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace…”
So, as I am enveloped by the sweetness of Mother’s Day, I will also raise my voice to bring dignity to all mothers and remember the original intent of this auspicious day.
This spring, Mothers Acting Up is joining with Stand for the World’s Children. As a Mother Leader, I am collecting signatures on pledge post cards and delivering them to our members of congress later this month. I am also standing with mothers from Longmont, Niwot and Boulder at a variety of local events all month long. Over 90 Mother Leaders across the country will join us to simultaneously and joyfully demand a more just and equitable world for all. To add your voice to this beautiful collaboration of mothers, join us at one of the events you can find on this page.
Thoughts on Inspired Exchange