Saturday, May 12, 2007

Mother's Day....



In Thailand, children and adults give their mothers, aunts and grandmothers jasmine garlands and thank them for the giving of life and ask for their blessings.

Thank you to all of you who mother, in whatever fashion, because as you mother your children, you mother the world. May you continue to share your wisdom with your children and with all of us.

~*

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!

Say firmly:


"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will 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, the 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 voice of a 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 our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate 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 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...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -

In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And 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.

by Julia Ward Howe*, 1870

~*

11 comments:

thailandchani said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Tabba said...

Chani, thank you so much for sharing this. And now that I know, I feel a lot different about Mother's Day. And I will celebrate it a bit differently. From here on out.

Lee said...

Very nice Chani...thanks for sharing!

Girlplustwo said...

Arise! Yes!

thank you.

meno said...

Those are powerful words Chani. thank you for sharing them.

crazymumma said...

Nice Chani. I plan to be ferocious in my rising!

Pam said...

Powerful and moving...thank you.

heartinsanfrancisco said...

Lovely video. I never knew that Mother's Day was not a Hallmark holiday.

I often think about the fighting men and women who never come back, or who come back from every war horribly wounded. No one has a greater stake in a peaceful world than mothers.

Thanks for sharing this, Chani.

KC said...

Thanks for that Chani. I could go for a jasmine garland. I miss that fragrance.

1870! I'm impressed.

LittlePea said...

So Beautiful.

QT said...

Chani - I read this over the weekend and never got a chance to comment - thanks for posting this -it is so worthwhile.