"Treat Your Mother Right"

     Mother's day is coming up.  This means these next 2 days, men everywhere will be flocking to Hallmarks and grocery stores everywhere to grab what remaining flowers and sentimental cards there are.  For good reason, there's something extremely thankful for as we celebrate this day of maternal gratitude.

     In the minds of many adolescents and even a few adults (sadly), they believe that a mother plays a very restricted role in the play that is family life.  The common misconception that many believe the mother does in the household are this:

• Make [the male household inhabitants] popular lunch foods consisting of deli meats and vegetables enclosed with two slices of white bread
• Relegate themselves to menial chores around the house at the whim of the husband
• Make a living hell out of looking after [a few] kids
• Emphasize the inferiority of the female race as a caretaker of children rather than a successful woman out and about winning the bread for the family
• Inhuman items of display fettered to the household, waiting to be fed while the man of the household exhibits such "object" to guests and acquaintances, waiting for praise and accomplishment

     It sounds very far-fetched, but believe it or not, many people still hold these notions true-- that mothers who stay at home to take care of the kids are in a very, very low position in the household ranks.  While many women had thought the same thing-- that motherhood is a burden rather than a blessing-- they have taken themselves the liberty to go out and work until they've become the successful businesswomen that they've become, but reach an age where child-rearing and family relationships aren't really options anymore.



If Jesus didn't have Mary in His life, I doubt He would have

become the person He turned out to be-- God probably knew

that a long time ago.

     Feminism, especially its influence in the role of the mother, has become a greater and greater part of my life.  I think after I joined the Church, I've become more devoted to the cause of such.  It may not be necessarily in the way that Ellen Willis or Kate Chopin envisioned feminism, but I feel as if women aren't given enough credit in life.  Women are amazing people capable of touching the hearts of all people, both men and other women.  It seems like empathy and sympathy are in their nature; they know when people need what and why.  Sad to say, us men are very tunnel-visioned beings.  We like to think inside the box most of the times and it frustrates a lot of people.  If we're told to do something, we go from point A to point B.  No exceptions.  Mission accomplished.  Women, on the other hand, don't go from point A to point B, but hit points C-Z and then B-- this way, the person giving the instruction doesn't have to give any more instruction to the woman while the instructor has to tell the man at least 25 more times to get all the way to point Z.

     Women are initiative-driven people, independent of a higher plane of thought than men and I think this is so direly important in the roles that they play in the household.  Bestowed with such a gift, they are of the two, the most capable of rearing a child-- a man can definitely raise a child well, but it's the women who go above and beyond to have that child succeed.  A herculean task in and of itself-- a job harder than any other job that one can do-- it is up to the woman to do such.  There's no one better who can nurture, teach, care, and love a child as well as a mother.  In a family though, father = mother.

“There is no limit to what a mother can accomplish. Righteous women have changed the course of history and will continue to do so.” -Julie B. Beck

     This coming Mother's day, love your mother; you really love her.  To all of us.  If the world didn't have any of them, how wayward a great big portion of us would be!  Because of them, sacrificing their time, talent, and sanity, we are who we are.  Seriously.  Mothers-- women-- are so amazing that it kind of confuses me how much more superior they are to men (in terms of everything practical-- when it comes to manly-man stuff, like wrestling bears and chopping down large oak trees, there may be some contention).  Remember that in most cases, it'll be the mother who will know when you need your space and it'll be the mother who will know when you'll need a comic book and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich whenever you're feeling blue.  Jesus' mother raised Him right.  Imagine if Joseph had to raise Jesus.