EDITORIAL: Honor Mom every day
This morning, moms everywhere are waking to breakfast in bed, and, hopefully, being shown how much they are loved and appreciated by their families.
And we owe it all to Anna Jarvis.
Anna advocated relentlessly for the national holiday on the second Sunday in May to honor the legacy of her own mother, community activist Ann Reeves Jarvis, who bore 13 children. All but four died in childhood, spurring her grassroots efforts to improve public health, childhood mortality rates and hygiene in her Appalachian community.
It’s somewhat ironic though that some years later, Anna would lobby equally hard for the revocation of the holiday she fought so hard to win.
It turns out that Anna – who lived in Grafton, W.Va., a little over an hour’s drive south of here and home to the International Mother’s Day Shrine – ended up regretting her campaign after witnessing what she viewed as crass commercialism in the years following President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation of the first Mother’s Day, just before the start of World War I in 1914.
Anna said Mother’s Day was “not a day of idle sentimentalism,” but a time to renew “allegiance to our highest ideals of womanhood,” intended to strengthen “the sanctity of home and motherhood.” She had envisioned a day set aside to reflect values, not consumerism propagated by greeting card companies and florists. She encouraged sons and daughters to hand-write letters of gratitude to their mothers – not send them pre-printed messages.
Distraught, she poured all of her money into an unsuccessful petition drive to have the holiday recalled in 1943.
“Five years later she died penniless in a sanitarium where her bills were paid by the same greeting card companies and florists she despised,” according to the Smithsonian American Women’s History Museum.
The sad ending to the story behind the origin of Mother’s Day serves as a reminder of the day’s true intent, which is appreciation.
We’d hazard a guess that most mothers are motivated not by gifts or accolades but by pure, unconditional love for their family. Nothing is expected in return.
Now, we aren’t suggesting that you take back any cards or gifts you might have purchased for the special day.
Just honor the moms in your life with respect and appreciation – this Mother’s Day and every day.
And if they are no longer with us, take a moment to reflect on them and the gifts they imparted to you.
That’s what Anna Jarvis would want, too.