Mothers—The World's Greatest Superpower
Mother’s day is coming up this Sunday. It is a day which has grown to be one of my favourite celebrated holidays. What our own mothers do in our lives and what mothers around the world do for our world welcomes me with a humbling feeling that overflows me with warmth and gratitude. Although I have yet to experience what it is like to be one, I can understand and have experienced the immense power and love that motherhood brings into our world. Mothers are the essence of our being.
Every day, week and year, I gain more and more gratitude for what my mother has done for me in my life. I also have gratitude, understanding and love for just what a powerful job it is to be a mother—perhaps the most powerful. To be a mother is to be a role model, a teacher, a coach, an example, a nurturer, a provider, a listener, a giver, a protector, a supporter and more than we can possibly name. Being a mother is a juggling act, but above all else motherhood is pure love.
No wonder why we refer to our planet as ‘Mother Earth’.
To explain exactly why mothers are the world’s greatest superpower I feel might take away from the magic and the beauty of the natural wonders of motherhood. Regardless, we must recognize and celebrate the work and emotion many mothers around the world endure to make their child’s world the best for them.
At the very least, being a mother is loving and carrying a child physically—for 9 months. Beyond that, the parents have more of a choice of how they will leave a mark on their child, and the child who will then leave its mark on the world—a never ending cycle. Depending on the life of the mother, she may or may not quite have the tools, resources and knowledge to be the best mother for her child, but I believe in almost all cases the mother will always have love—that which cannot be taught. If you speak to any psychologist, I am sure they will reiterate to you that the parents arguably have the most important roles to play in the child’s life.
Once I moved out of my parent’s house and started to live on my own, my deepest reflections about my uprising started to sink in the most. Conversations about parents with friends, long-distance calls with my mom (asking her silly questions about how to live on my own), realizing what I already knew how to do on my own and knowing that I always have emotional support—these are just a few things that really emphasized and brought to light how wonderful my mother is, and just how many other wonderful mothers are out there.
I do realize that parenthood is complicated. Our relationships with our parents are all different. My point with this article, similar to past articles, is to bring awareness to you loving readers on how we can make our world a better place. And like I have said in past articles, we really have to dig to the root of the how and why in our situations in our lives. The root of all of our lives is motherhood, that in which life has begun.
Mothers, or whoever fills in your mother-like-role in your life, need to be empowered. What exactly do I mean by empowered? Mother, women and girls empowerment means giving them the space to make decisions on their own, have good access to knowledge/education, have a place to have their voices heard and questions answered. Empowerment is authority in one's own life. Empowerment is not just about confidence, but rather about making it so mothers, women and girls have a choice. When our mothers and parents are empowered, educated and supported, they are given the opportunity to make their children's world the best possible; and a good world for children is a good world for all.
It took me some time to try to find a resource that reiterated my expressions of motherhood empowerment and richness. I truly believe that motherhood is one of our strongest tools to positive change, after all, we have all come from a mother, it connects us all. Explaining that mothers really are the world’s greatest superpower is hard to explain. Luckily, I stumbled upon this TEDx Talk: Motherhood Matters. Trish Morrison explains that by empowering and supporting mothers we are minimizing poverty, we minimize trauma, we give a good life to our children and a good life to our world, economies and societies.
To add to that, empowering women and girls has actually been shown to be one of the best solutions to climate change. When women and girls are given the opportunity to pursue education, to have support, tools, knowledge and above all else experience gender equity we see a world that is happier, more sustainable, more just, empathetic, healthier and simply better for mothers, fathers, children and all beings of the world. There is quite a long explanation to exactly why empowering women and girls has such a big ripple effect but it is true—and the connection is astounding. It teaches us that our everyday doings have a strong impact. It teaches us that we as individuals have power in making the world a better place when we are given the proper support and resources. I encourage you to learn more about exactly that, by watching this TED Talk: How women and girls can help stop global warming.
Maybe your mother is not your biological mother, or maybe you don’t have a mom. Maybe you have two fathers or two mothers! Maybe your mother is not in the picture. There are a lot of different situations unique to a person’s life. Everyone’s situation is unique. We can choose to find gratitude for what we do have, for either our superstar moms or superstar people that have filled these roles for you. We can choose to recognize healthy and unhealthy patterns and seek to better our own children's lives. With that being said, with systems of people who support mothers, gender equity, with better access to services, education, and support systems, then, we will truly see a difference in our own lives, and the lives of our children.
Motherhood is support, care, love and protection. And when each individual mother is empowered, and acts with love—as she naturally does, we have peace. What happens in our individual lives has a ripple effect in our world. With empowered mothers comes empowered children, and with empowered children comes empowered parents. Our mothers have a central role in our own lives.
Whether it is your mother, yourself as a mother, or a mother you know, I encourage you this Mother’s Day to show your love and gratitude to a mother. And above that, show and support mothers everywhere. Do actionable things that can help support them in one of the most important jobs in the world. By supporting our mothers, you are supporting peace.
Be The Change,
G