Happy Mother’s Day
By Maria Elena Centeno, Motivational Trainer
I had promised to develop a communication exercise for this edition. However, it is necessary to have a parenthesis to talk about a historic and far-reaching fact: the celebration of Mother’s Day. In some countries it is celebrated on the second Sunday of May and in many others on various dates. What is certain is that this celebration goes back to the Romans and Greeks, to the worshipping of the gods and virgins, to the habit of sharing Sundays, and even to a law project.
In short, the history that gives origin to this celebration has transformed it into something relevant. Even though, through time, it has been modified, and the facts, reasons, and origins have been distorted until now when it has become a gamut of different meanings for each person, but it has remained something magnificent.
The following words, besides celebrating Mother’s Day, pretend to call your attention to reflect. Having a child is a great responsibility, a responsibility that even now, we don’t quite comprehend. We don’t train to have them, but we bring more and more children into this world. That is why I apologize for not limiting myself to praises and flattery. But to be a mother is to go beyond.
To speak of Mother is like holding the plumage of a peacock, or like stripping the petals of a daisy, or attempting to hold some fine sand in your fist. It is something delicate, especially when you are trying to say something about a celebration.
It is so difficult to know how great and honest the love of a Mother is for her child… Nevertheless, this greeting is given to those women who with great responsibility, honesty, and integrity know, from the bottom of their hearts and consciences, that they deserve this celebration.
Great Day for you, woman, who every day knows what you need to do; you, woman, who feeds, clothes, educates, and loves another being that depends on you, solely on you. To you, woman, whose love guides you to take your child by a silk gloved hand and not brandishing a whip.
Today, more than ever, being a Mother is a difficult chore, so difficult that we cannot allow our labor to be side tracked by computers. Since, if that were the case, we would be forced to celebrate Mother’s Day electronically.
One is a Mother for a variety of reasons, but more important than reasoning is the heart, the feelings; it is duty and having to confront the fact of being, no matter the reason, since it was your choice.
A Mother is all a child has during the first years of her or his life. That is why a child has to be attended to, not ignored; has to be taught, not dominated; has to be listened to, not yelled at; has to be recognized, not interrogated. In other words, a child has to be loved because it is incomprehensible to do otherwise since a child cannot defend herself or himself and since you are the only one he or she has.
To speak of Mother without offending is almost impossible. Unfortunately, we have not been educated to do so. We have forgotten the role of Mother within the social context, and we ignore the fact that we are like architects designing most of our society. And the fact is, when you are a Mother, nothing is enough. There is so much to cover. It is an extremely exhausting and gratifying job that lays on our shoulders the success or failure of our children.
A Mother must be attentive to the minutest indicator that there is fault in her job and avoid justifying it herself.
Children must be loved even before birth and educated from the cradle on.
Being a Mother is a gorgeous role, important and unique to represent. With them, our world is a much better place.
HAPPY DAY TO YOU WOMAN, ON THIS MOTHER’S DAY!
