"Mother's Day" is a scam.

[Archae]

Last edited Wed May 2, 2012, 07:10 PM - Edit history (1)

To me, every day is Mother's Day.
You can see her briefly in my video:

The "one day a year" scam was created by merchants so they can sell junk they normally couldn't sell.

As is, I'm looking at a store flyer, says in huge letters, "For Mom Sale."

It includes store brand kleenex, toilet paper, paper towels,and paper plates.

[RedCloud]

1. Creted eh? Sounds Greek to me!

[Archae]

8. Corrected.

Hukt onn Phonix wurket fer mee!

[SCantiGOP]

15. the music

Is one of my all time favorites. George Winston, on a 30 year old album called 'December.' Very peaceful music.

On a downer note, there was an NPR Marketplace story yesterday about the incredible carbon footprint of fresh flowers. While there is a growing movement to buy local produce so your lettuce doesn't have to be trucked across the country, no one seems to think about flowers. They said the typical Mother's Day flowers delivered in Los Angeles come from Ecuador to Miami, and are then trucked across the country. Several days later they are thrown away.

[Archae]

16. My Mom doesn't want cut flowers.

She loves potted flowers, so she can continue to keep them long after any day we give them to her.

My Mom doesn't like cut flowers at all, since they die and rot so quickly.

[MerryBlooms]

2. Origin of Mother's Day is not nearly as awful as you project it to be-

Julia Ward Howe was inspired to write "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" after she and her husband visited Washington, D. C. and met Abraham Lincoln at the White House in November 1861. During the trip, her friend James Freeman Clarke suggested she write new words to the song "John Brown's Body", which she did on November 19.[4] The song was set to William Steffe's already-existing music and Howe's version was first published in the Atlantic Monthly in February 1862. It quickly became one of the most popular songs of the Union during the American Civil War.

After the war Howe focused her activities on the causes of pacifism and women's suffrage. In 1870 Howe was the first to proclaim Mother's Day, with her Mother's Day Proclamation. From 1872 to 1879, she assisted Lucy Stone and Henry Brown Blackwell in editing Woman's Journal.

After her husband's death in 1876, Howe focused more on her interests in reform. She was the founder and president of the Association of American Women, a group which advocated for women's education, from 1876 to 1897. She also served as president of organizations like the New England Women's Club, the Massachusetts Woman Suffrage Association, and the New England Suffrage Association, and the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA).[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julia_Ward_Howe

As with any holiday, it's ours to decide what it means to us personally.

[eppur_se_muova]

11. +1 nt

[deutsey]

14. Thanks for standing up against American amnesia n/t

[nolabear]

3. From a mother:

PFFTFHTTFHHHTHTTTT!!!!!

And yours is lovely.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

4. Wish I still had my mom so I could bring her some flowers and a card.

It's only a scam if you treat it like one.

[MerryBlooms]

5. Gosh, same here. I still terribly miss my mom, even after 20+ years.

[RebelOne]

6. Well, in the same context, so is Father's Day. n/t

[siligut]

7. Merchants can turn any holiday into a scam

They want to make money. Stupid flyer, who buys paper goods for their mom as a gift? Maybe they want you to take her on a picnic? Are the prices any better? Toilet paper and tissues are something we always use, stock up if you can.

[progressoid]

17. Presidents' Day was created to sell matresses.

[trof]

9. Yeah, and apple pie is toxic, Chevy's suck.

My mom died when she was 50, in 1968.
Way before her time.
Breast cancer.
Cancer treatment wasn't what it is now.


She never knew her daughter-in-law, who I met and married the next year.
Never saw her great grandchildren.

I often wonder what it would have been like if she'd lived a normal lifespan.
Well, what's past is past.

I celebrate Mothers' Day for my wife and daughter.
Both are great moms.

[kwassa]

12. Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jiving, too.

B. B. King, with the ultimate blues song.

the lyrics start about 0:49

[RFKHumphreyObama]

13. Yeah, I know how you feel

I hate the crass comercialization of the day and the way they exploit your emotions to sell their products -it's become so cheap and gimmicky -and for those who have lost a mother, quite often it only reinforces the pain and the sadness

And I agree -every day is Mother's Day for me. I don't need to have a special day to remember or celebrate my mother. She's in my thoughts a lot every day. I am reminded of her constantly. I love her and miss her immensely, more than I ever realized that I would before she went. I am reminded that she died too young from an illness she defied the statistical odds and that she never lived to see the rewards of all the consistently hard work and effort she put into every aspect of her life.

May is a difficult month for me. My mother's birthday is usually very close to Mother's Day and she also died in May. This year it will be five years.

to all those who have lost their mothers or who do not have good relationships with their mothers and who feel the pain and sadness every time Mother's Day comes around

[SCantiGOP]

18. Lewis Grizzard..

..was a humorist who wrote for the Atlanta newspaper for years until he drank and smoked himself to death in 40s, died sometime in the mid-90s. I remember one piece where he said there were three kinds of crying for a man: crying; drunk and crying; and drunk and crying about my Momma/Daddy.

I lost my Mom 6 years ago and it still hurts. My parents were married over 40 years and died within 5 months of each other.

[AnneD]

19. I know Mom would cut me some slack....

I talk to her just about every week for hours on end. She was 18 when she had me and I am 57 now. I am so grateful for every day she is still with me, and I let her know it. I give her flowers when I can afford it, cards if I don't have much money and I try to visit her every 2 years (she lives several western states away).

She always made me feel loved and I make sure she knows how much I love her. She was a single Mom for years, with 4 kids and before minimum wage. I was old enough to remember her coming home with feet cracked and bleeding because she had been working such long hours to provide for us. She would only eat one meal at the restaurant (free for her) so we could have three. She made sure we went to school and helped us with college or whatever we needed when we left home.

Even though I had one parent for many years, I won the parent lottery when I got her. I don't need anyone telling me to honor my mom. I can't do enough for her. And when she passes on, my tears won't be from a guilty conscious from what I didn't do, but they will be selfish tears, because I will miss my buddy and best friend.