| Sunny Side Up May 4, 2005 �2005, Kathleen Gibson Mothers Day as intended Everyone knows Mothers Day is big business. Business, however, was never its originator's intent. Setting aside a day to honor mothers has multiple historic roots, but an unpretentious Appalachian homemaker, Anne Jarvis, and her daughter Anna are responsible for officially placing Mothers Day on our calendar. Prior to the Civil War in the US, Anne lived in a poor West Virginian community with appalling health conditions. To raise awareness, she organized a community 'Mothers Work Day,' encouraging every mother to take up the cause of better health. The day branched into 'Mothers Day Work Clubs,' and they made an astonishingly positive impact, pre and post War. After her mother's death in 1905, Anna longed for a way to honor her memory. She remembered a prayer Anne had uttered; that "someone, sometime will found a memorial mothers' day commemorating her for the matchless service she renders to humanity in every field of life. She is entitled to it." Anna began a tireless campaign of lobbying and letter-writing to fulfill her mother's dream. In 1914 President Woodrow Wilson scrawled his signature on a document that instituted the second Sunday of May as Mothers Day, a national holiday. Other countries followed suit. But here's part of Anna's story few know: Before her death in 1948, she wished she'd never started Mothers Day. Profit and greed overshadowed the day's true intent, she observed. During the last twenty-odd years of her life she made efforts to reverse it, even filing a lawsuit to stop a festival based on the day. Once her attempts got her arrested for disturbing the peace. Read, from her own pen, Anna Jarvis's original Mothers Day intent: ...To revive the dormant filial love and gratitude we owe to those who gave us birth. To be a home tie for the absent. To obliterate family estrangement. To create a bond of brotherhood through the wearing of a floral badge. To make us better children by getting us closer to the hearts of our good mothers. To brighten the lives of good mothers. To have them know we appreciate them, though we do not show it as often as we ought... Mothers Day is to remind us of our duty before it is too late. This day is intended that we may make new resolutions for a more active thought to our dear mothers. By words, gifts, acts of affection, and in every way possible, give her pleasure, and make her heart glad every day, and constantly keep in memory Mothers Day� lest you forget and neglect your dear mother. If absent from home write her often, tell her of a few of her noble good qualities and how you love her. "A mother's love is new every day." God bless our faithful good mothers." Think about that before you purchase a last-minute gift and an expensive card. Most mothers would prefer your company and words of love from your own heart. I know. I'm one. But I'll take chocolates too. Respond Home |
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