MOTHER’S DAY PROCLAMATION

Boston, 1870

“Arise, then… women of this day! 
Arise, all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of tears!
Say firmly: 
We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. 
Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, 
for caresses and applause. 
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country
to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.
It says:  Disarm, Disarm! 
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.
Blood does not wipe out dishonor,
nor violence vindicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
at the summons of war, 
let women now leave all that may be left of home 
for a great and earnest day of council.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them then solemnly take council with each other as to the means
whereby the great human family can live in peace,
each bearing after his own kind the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask
that a general congress of women, without limit of nationality, 
may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient,
and at the earliest period consistent with its objects, 
to promote the alliance of the different nationalities, 
the amicable settlement of international questions, 
the great and general interests of peace.“

~ Julia Ward Howe

https://peacealliance.org/history-of-mothers-day-as-a-day-of-peace-julia-ward-howe/

The Essential Cleavage in Society

"The heartlessness of that is mind-boggling. It seems to elude the administration and its cheerleaders that this is not about crime or security, but about the most elemental human values; that ordering armed border guards to cruelly and needlessly rip children from mothers — in one case, while she was breast-feeding the child — goes against fundamental American values and undercuts its standing in the world." Seizing Children From Parents at the Border Is Immoral. Here’s What We Can Do About It. The Editorial Board, NYTimes.

"This is the platform Mr. Trump ran on, after all: a platform of xenophobia and corruption. This is the culmination of the dictatorial ambitions and dehumanization of immigrants that smug journalists and officials told people to take seriously – but not literally. For Latino immigrants, demonized from the very day Mr. Trump launched his campaign, it was always literally." Sarah Kendzior (https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-unspeakable-cruelty-of-trumps-child-migrant-camps/)

There are those who were raised on a silent current of spite, mostly unspoken, but usually delivered to those who are powerless. Like the schoolyard bully scouring the playground for someone to pick on. When asked to talk about this bullies are silent - they often have no words. Children who were abused can find themselves meting out the same actions that caused them the pain they could not name.

Anyone who thinks about culture and human nature are familiar with the habits of people they know and love and how it relates to their history and our history.

But how many come to the conclusion that collectively, we know so little about life other than war and violence. How many of us witness a change in the personality of a child when she crosses the river of longing to the acceptance of reality as she has been dealt it.

There is a dark river running through our minds and veins, and spite is a sign of it. When people feel empowered because babies and toddlers are snatched from those who have less power than they - there is no reasoned argument to support that and the only conclusion is that there will be a political response which will punish most if not all people.