-- DickKroeger - 07 May 2007

Many people do not know that Mother's Day was not inspired by Hallmark but by Julia Ward Howe in 1870 as a plea for peace. Here is the entire proclamation in her own words; it is worth reading every Mother's Day:

Mother's Day Proclamation

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 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 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....