Commentary: Make every day Mothers' Day

(This commentary was originally written and published in 2011 to celebrate Mothers' Day)

I was having a conversation with some colleagues the other day who were planning an event to celebrate Mothers' Day. Their idea was to invite mothers based on the vague definition "women of substance".

So I asked, "Who is a woman of substance?"

The immediate response was that she is a woman who has distinguished herself in the community, in the professions, and others who have made a mark at the national level.

I had no quarrel with that but I wondered whether "substance" could not also mean women with fewer means, women who have contributed significantly to the community by raising children and nurturing a family under the most difficult social and economic conditions.

I asked whether the single mother who had no real income, who had to make choices between buying food or taking a sick child to a doctor, was not also a woman of substance.

I wondered whether the mother who starves herself for the day so that her children could share the meal that she gives up so they would not go hungry was not also a woman of substance.

I wondered about the woman who has no place to call home and little hope of every having a home for herself and her family.

I wondered about a woman named Rosalind whom I met 12 years ago cutting canes with a flambeau at 4am so she could get back home in time to prepare breakfast for her children before they left for school.

I wondered about the women who were denied an education because their parents could not afford to send them to school.

I asked whether they too are not "women of substance". I did not get an answer.

I applaud those women who have been more fortunate, who have been role models at the national level and I acknowledge them as "women of substance".

However, I urge each of you who reads this to also think of the women who are less fortunate, who, through no fault of theirs are unable to wear a business suit and go to the office.

For me, they too are "women of substance" and they deserve our attention and recognition even more than those in our community who have had the good fortune of having opportunities for upward mobility.

When we shower our mothers with gifts today, think of the thousands in our own society who will have none and who want nothing more than to care for their children so they could escape the life of drudgery that they have lived.

Let us make every day Mothers' Day for every mother.

Happy Mothers' Day from all of us at JYOTI.

(Jai Parasram)