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TomVilmer

(1,832 posts)
Sat May 9, 2020, 08:13 PM May 2020

Mother's Day is a forgotten campaign against war

The first steps to a celebration of Mother's Day were as an action day against high infant mortality. A group of women rallied in the 1850s to fight for better conditions, but then during the United States Civil War, they also provided care for wounded soldiers, regardless of which side they fought for.

After the war, the day turned into Mother's Friendship Days, where pacifist mothers gathered to reconcile the former enemies. One of the organizers, who had previously composed the wellknown march "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", now in 1870 wrote a "Mother's Day Proclamation" to the women, encouraging them to play a strong political role in creating peace: "Arise, all women who have hearts! Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage, for caresses and applause."

However, the idea of ​​a Women's Peace Day changed radically when another of these strong women for peace died. Her daughter spent the rest of her life honoring the memory of her mother, not for the peace work, but only as a Mother Figure. Now her idea was that this should be the day each of us thanks our very own mother for all she has done just for you.

In 1914, the daughter got the day made into an official holiday. However, a little political struggle was left in her. She found the commercialization of the day abhorrent, and was especially furious at florists and chocolate merchants who were now earning fortunes on the idea.

The daughter therefore attempted to sabotage a meeting by the patriots in The American War Mothers. Not because they supported war, but because the organization abused the day to raise money for themselves. She was arrested but continued the fight until her death. Commercialization triumphed anyway - and the peace message is long gone.



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Mother's Day is a forgotten campaign against war (Original Post) TomVilmer May 2020 OP
not forgotten dweller May 2020 #1
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