MOTHER'S DAY: A DAY OF PEACE

The idea of Mother's Day was first championed after the Civil War by social activist and abolitionist Julia Ward Howe, the well-known author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." She intended and promoted it as a day on which women would publicly proclaim and demonstrate their unity against war. With this goal in mind, she wrote "The Mother's Day Proclamation" as a call for peace and disarmament. Here are selections from that proclamation:

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 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,
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God. . . .

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers--and may peace soon bless Mother Earth and all God's children.

For more information about Julia Ward Howe,
PLEASE CLICK HERE.

For a more complete history of Mother's Day,
PLEASE CLICK HERE.

To read the entire "Mother's Day Proclamation,"
PLEASE CLICK HERE.

To read the 2007 General Assembly resolution on the war in Iraq,
PLEASE CLICK HERE.