As I look at my hand, I am reminded of my mother. She had the same short, stumped, freckled fingers I do.

Mother's Day will soon be here, and I am among the many who no longer have the opportunity to spend time with my mother, or to call her.

While researching the origins of Mother's Day I came across a whole section of women's history I was not aware of. It got me thinking about all of the strong, women I have personally been exposed to in my life.

There are so many in my family that not only sheltered me, educated me, fed me, clothed me, and gave me bits and parts of themselves that will always shape my destiny no matter how little or large that may be; I can not begin to express the depth of my gratitude for all of them.

I would like to take this time to share with you a piece written by Julia Ward Howe, she wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic, a song we once sang in the one-room school house I attended in Ledger, Montana.

Here are a few lines from that Hymn, "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord: He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored; He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword:

His truth is marching on."

But the piece I want to introduce you too is below. As I look at my hand and remember my mother, and think of all the mother's in Ukraine, I ask that you take this writing and make it your mantra for the year.

MOTHER’S DAY PROCLAMATION

Boston, 1870

“Arise, then… women of this day!

Arise, all women who have hearts,

whether our baptism be that of water or of tears!

Say firmly:

We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies.

Our husbands shall not come to us, reeking with carnage,

for caresses and applause.

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.

We, women of one country, will be too tender of those of another country

to allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs.

From the bosom of the devastated earth a voice goes up with our own.

It says: Disarm, Disarm!

The sword of murder is not the balance of justice.

Blood does not wipe out dishonor,

nor violence vindicate possession.

As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil

at the summons of war,

let women now leave all that may be left of home

for a great and earnest day of council.

Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take council with each other as to the means

whereby the great human family can live in peace,

each bearing after his own kind the sacred impress, not of Caesar,

but of God.

In the name of womanhood and of humanity, I earnestly ask

that a general congress of women, without limit of nationality,

may be appointed and held at some place deemed most convenient,

and at the earliest period consistent with its objects,

to promote the alliance of the different nationalities,

the amicable settlement of international questions,

the great and general interests of peace.“

~ Julia Ward Howe

Mother's Day started after the Civil war as a way to bring on reconciliation between the north and south. Over the years it transitioned into a community of women helping each other take care of their families through education, lobbying and bucking a system that today still hold's women in an unjust perspective.

In 1914, Ann Marie Jarvis had managed to lobby all the way to Washington DC where former President Woodrow Willison signed a proclamation establishing Mother's Day as a National Holiday and asking every American to fly the flag in honor of those mother's who lost sons in war.

I would like to ask all those who read this, to fly a flag up to and on Mother's Day for all the mother's who are loosing sons in the war in Ukraine and those mother's who have lost sons from preceding wars.

I would also like to ask everyone to wear a white carnation in memory of the mother's who are no longer with us. This was the symbol the Miss Ann Maria Jarvis presented on the first mother's day celebration on May 12, 1907.

On this mother's day, let us all take a good long look at the Mother's Day Proclamation and ask ourselves is there anything I can do personally to bring this change about?

Since Quotes Totez+ is a woman owned and operated business we would like to take this opportunity to shed some light on Women's history that isn't so well known.

Mother's Day is the perfect time to honor all the women who came before us, fight along side us today and those who will continue to carry the torch long after we have gone.

Yes without Mothers none of us would be here so we do at least have a debt of gratitude for our very existence.