Yes, of course mothers across the country love roses, breakfast in bed and thoughtful greeting cards. But this year, mothers are taking to the streets to celebrate the true meaning of Mother’s Day – a day when mothers unite to protect our global family.
In 1870, after the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe wrote a Mother’s Day Proclamation, the inspiration for Mother’s Day in the U.S., which begins, “Arise then women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts!”
Howe said one question burned in her heart, “Why do not the mothers of mankind interfere in these matters to prevent the waste of that human life of which they alone bear and know the cost?” She passionately worked to bring women from around the world together, “for a great and earnest day of counsel.”
Why are mothers just now resonating with Howe’s call to action? Because we stand at a crossroads in history, a time when globally we spend more than $1 trillion on our military budgets, while nearly every other child lives in poverty. Our leaders seem to have lost their way, as Howe said, “unlearning all that [their mothers] have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.”
In our world, 29,000 children die every day due to malnutrition and preventable disease. One in six has no access to safe drinking water. One in eight has no access to health services. One in 20 will not set foot in a classroom this year. One in 150 has lost his mother or both parents to AIDS. In the U.S., 2,000 children are born into poverty every day. We can no longer afford to watch silently as our children’s resources are spent and their future neglected.
The 2006 U.S. national defense budget is at a historic high of $535 billion. Building new fleets of fighter jets and researching the next generation of nuclear weapons is not creating true security.
One of the real costs created by these huge investments in defense is the loss of life. UNICEF estimates that 90 percent of war casualties are now civilians, and almost half of these victims are children. A report published in the British medical journal Lancet estimates 46 percent of civilian casualties in Iraq have been children under the age of 15. Somewhere between 15,000 and 50,000 Iraqi children have died since the war began.
Again, Howe’s words are a call to action: “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 out dishonor, nor violence indicate possession.”
Mothers know the best weapon at our disposal is investment in the prevention of poverty. A report from the U.N. Secretary-General’s Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change states, “Combating poverty will not only save millions of lives, but strengthen states’ capacity to combat terrorism, organized crime and proliferation.”
It’s time we invest in our global family and divest from war. World leaders have already crafted Millennium Development Goals to halve extreme poverty by 2015. Leaders from all 22 donor nations have agreed to contribute 0.7 percent of their GNP (the U.S. currently contributes 0.16 percent). The goals may be lofty, but significant progress is already being made in many communities around the world. This plan to end extreme poverty in our lifetime is worth our greatest efforts.
Howe said it well more than 100 years ago: “Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human family can live in peace.”
This Mother’s Day, mothers across the country will stand tall and join an exuberant movement of mothers and others speaking out and acting up on behalf of all the world’s children, not just a privileged few.
Mothers Acting Up Mother’s Day Parades will be held in Denver (the Highlands neighborhood) and Boulder at 1 p.m. on today.
Visit www.mothersactingup.org for more information.
Joellen Raderstorf is co-founder of Mothers Acting Up.
