Mother´s Day Proclamation

I found this genuine call for alliance and settlement to be quite timely. I don´t necessarily believe that we should or must completely disarm today as suggested here by Julia Ward Howe - as ideal as that sounds sometimes, it would likely create even more chaos. But sometimes I find myself getting so absorbed by the details, politics, and process of war that I forget the essence of the conflicts, and the solemn reality that it is not only our own sons and daughters paying the ultimate price, but those of other nations as well - and perhaps not always willingly by the choice of patriotic and honorable defense, as ours have the freedom to make. That being said, this isn´t a blog post intended to debate the pros and cons of disarmament. I would probably fail miserably in such a conversation, as I so often feel myself torn in many different directions when it comes to war and peace. But I just found the history of this proclamation interesting, and the words created some significant food for thought. The following is a quick history lesson on Mother´s Day, followed by the empowering challenge of our Julia Ward Howe:

The first North American Mother’s Day was conceptualized with Julia Ward Howe´s Mother’s Day Proclamation in 1870. Despite having penned The Battle Hymn of the Republic 12 years earlier, Howe had become so distraught by the death and carnage of the Civil War that she called on Mothers to come together and protest what she saw as the futility of their Sons killing the Sons of other Mothers. With the following, she called for an international Mother's Day celebrating peace and motherhood:

Arise, then, women of this day!
Arise all women who have hearts,
Whether your 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 of 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 indicate possession.
As men have of ten forsaken the plow 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 then 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 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.


For our Mothers, Fathers, Sons, and Daughters everywhere, let it be so.