We're in the midst of a war in our country and it's our job to re-engineer the world for peace. Our narrow-minded attitudes and the resultant policies foment violence, rebellions, and wars. In the long run, almost no one benefits from attacking the people we label as "terrorists." With one glaring exception: the corporatocracy.
By the time this column has posted I've celebrated Mother's Day with my wife, daughter and son-in-law, and our grandson. If ever there is a time in our history to celebrate mothers, this is the time. Mothers are a true force when it comes to protecting their children. What's interesting is that mothers will go to the same great lengths to protect their children from war.
Many know "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" was penned by Julia Ward Howe in 1862, but how many know that in 1870 Howe, who had become a suffragist and pacifist, also called for a Mothers Day for Peace through her "Mother's Day Proclamation." Part of that proclamation says:
"We, the women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
There are some who credit Howe for creating the beginnings to what is now commonly known as Mother's Day. One only has to be reminded of the brave Cindy Sheehan and other mothers who marched with her to stop the war. Images of mothers beside their lost children in morgues in Iraq, the Persian Gulf, and the United States are now a daily occurrence. Websites present an endless and shocking display of proof of how terror begets terror.
It is through a mother's eye that every man, woman and child can see those images and understand a deeper pain and truth behind war -- for all sides involved. Benjamin Franklin said, "There was never a good war or a bad peace."
What if we stop waiting for our leaders to create the peace we want? What if we all again took each other's hands and raised them together for peace instead of war? What if we made it a daily occurrence to march for peace, a daily demand for soldiers to come home again to their mothers and their wives and their children?
As we leave this last Mother's Day behind, let's commit to practicing peace. Let's celebrate the next Mother's Day by proving that peace begets peace.
Will you join me?