The first Mothers' Day was antiwar

[eridani]

http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=18623

Here is the original, pre-Hallmark, Mother's Day Proclamation, penned in Boston by Julia Ward Howe in 1870:

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 often 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.
Maybe next year.

[Snow]

1. Thank you! In the Seattle University Friends Meeting during the 80's,

there was an older woman who rose every Mothers' Day during Meeting and told the story of that proclamation to the children before they left to go to their 'sunday school' rooms. It bears retelling well.

[Fridays Child]

2. May pro-war freeper mothers ponder those words.

[smirkymonkey]

3. Kick

:kick:

[progressivebydesign]

4. I'm sending that to everyone!!

Wish the mainstream media would report that! Wow.. I'm glad to learn that the Day is about more than some cheezy gifts from the mall. Thanks!

[CBHagman]

5. My priest had me read that at Mother's Day mass

This was back in the '80s. Until then, I had no idea that Mother's Day was originally a festival of peace. All ever hear about is the guilt-ridden (and commercially focused) version of later years.

It felt wonderful to cry, "Disarm, disarm!" from the lectern.

[tigereye]

6. good reminder thanks

need to get out the peace sign earrings

I sent it to a couple of my fellow moms.

[peacetalksforall]

7. When an elderly caller with a strong or shaky voice

calls in on Wash Journal (especially the women) and echoes Rush or Pat in support of the wonderful job Bush is doing, it would be nice to hear the next caller tell the story of the origin of Mother's Day and what it was all about.