Sunday To Sunday Attentive Heart

Hi, this is Ann Mary Mullane of Sunday to Sunday Productions with another episode of The Witness Podcast.

Mother's Day, 1982 was both a proud and a stupid Moment for me. I had a letter to the editor published. That was the proud Moment. I thought it would be a unique and different Mother's Day present for my Mom, and it was a good idea that our state paper published it, because I didn't have a backup gift planned. My letter spoke of my new life as a stay-at-home Mom, which my Mom was, and I was following suit in the 1980s.

Reliable daycare was not available to me. In retrospect, I wonder how much that influenced my decision. Now the stay-at-home Mom is almost extinct. I'll be the first to say she probably should be. Fortunately, daycare options are better for my daughters still, it's a huge drain on their household incomes nationwide.

Childcare for working parents is upwards of 20% of the household income. While economic realities have changed my own utility bill is about 300% more than when my daughters were toddlers for the same house. Add that to changes in healthcare, housing costs, pensions, 401ks, and the never-ending threat that social security is going to disappear.

Let's face it, overall life needs to be a bit easier. I've adopted my Mom's militant view of Mother's Day. She would say that Moms are given beautiful flowers, but no one will help plant the garden she loves. Or Mom will be treated to a dinner at a fancy restaurant, but no one would take on the cooking and cleaning up from a family Sunday meal and buying Mom a new appliance to make her work easier.

Wow. That's another big mistake. In the late 1800s, Julia Ward Howe, a poet, and activist who volunteered with the US Sanitary Commission during the Civil War, called for a Mother's Day for Peace in her Mother's Day proclamation from 1870. Howe felt that mothers should gather to prevent the cruelty of war and the waste of life since Mothers of humankind alone bear and know the cost. While the event originated in Boston, other cities joined in for about 30 years, and then World War I happened. Well, so much for honoring Mom. And there's been so many wars since and too many gold star Moms. Perhaps there is some comfort in the honor and service to one's country, perhaps.

As of the end of March 2023, gunshot wounds are the leading cause of death of our nation's children. When my girls were toddlers, I carefully stored cleaning products and medicines away from curious little hands. I grasped their tiny hands tightly in stores, parking lots, and crossing streets. A baby gate was always locked at the top of the stairs, and long after it was removed, I'd still be saying “Careful on the stairs”.

Yet, the National Rifle Association opposes safe gun laws and storage because children were more likely to be killed by cleaning products than by gunshot wounds. Until now. The NRA is a 50 million dollar organization that sanctions the waste of life. The very phrase, “Thoughts and prayers” in any context, makes me wanna puke.

Meanwhile, too many times our children are hunted down in their classrooms by someone with an AR-15 as if learning to read was an act of war. This is not the Mother's Day of Peace that Julia Ward Howe envisioned. It's not the Mother's Day I want. Mothers worry about their children and the economic health and social issues that affect them.

Many of those issues are tough to solve, not that our legislators are expending any productive energy on them either. Making our children safe in their classrooms or grandparents safe in supermarkets or individuals gathering to worship God can be done and done quickly. Stop wasting time. Stop wasting lives.

This year make Mother's Day militant. So Mom, except no flowers or fancy dinners. Mothers want a day of peace from gun violence. Use the look, you know what I'm talking about. Yes. The look. Start personal. If members of your family own guns demand assurance that they are stored safely. For mothers with young children, ask the same question before you allow your child to have a play date.

Sounds awkward. You start. Volunteer to the playmate's parents, the situation in your own house. Then ask about their house. For grandparents demand that your children protect your precious grandchildren by asking the same questions! One by one, each of us will think a little more clearly. One by one we’ll recognize that the irresponsible, egotistical, self-righteous views of the NRA are out of step with the overwhelming majority of Americans.

When our legislators see and feel the strength of our spines, then Mother's Day of Peace will come with the passage of common sense gun laws.

Thank you. This is Ann Mary Mullane for Sunday to Sunday Witness from Kearney, New Jersey. Please subscribe to Sunday to Sunday and tell your friends about us. Check out our full website and other free resources at sundaytosunday.net. Thank you, and we'll see you next time.