“This
kid. He is going to make the world a better place. He came into the world
wide-eyed and curious. He has never met a stranger. He doles out smiles without
reserve. He is resilient and unafraid.
He is completely full of joy and pure potential.”
–Jen Cannon, Mothers Day 2017
He is completely full of joy and pure potential.”
–Jen Cannon, Mothers Day 2017
"Our sons shall not be
taken from us to unlearn all that we have taught them of charity, mercy and
patience. We women of one country will be too tender of those of another to
allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs…."
Julia Ward Howe, 1870
Julia Ward Howe, 1870
Years
ago, with other visitors to Colonial Williamsburg, I participated in a
historical re-enactment of a militia training session. As we stood shoulder to shoulder, harangued
by “officers,” “shot” by musket, and rushed by bayonets, a shudder went through
the line of adults and children. We were
to be turned into killing machines.
I thought
of my father, a World War II infantryman, and the trauma, fear, and injury he suffered
as he endured basic training to turn him from a loving son, brother, husband
and neighbor to a weapon of war. For decades, my mother was also a survivor of war, holding my father as he screamed in the night. She brought him back to a loving life, and she refocused his thousand-mile stare. As their daughter, I work for a peaceful future for our children and
ourselves.
Remember the Origin of Mothers Day: A Call for Peace
As
mother and grandmother, I love the Mothers Day video chats, cards, and calls,
and I smile reading the loving posts of friends and family. Yet I also encourage all mothers—and
teachers—to remember the original sentiments of the Mothers Day holiday.
Julia
Ward Howe (1819-1910) was an abolitionist, suffragist, and peace activist,
often remembered as the author of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic” in
1861. Her 1870 proclamation of peace to
the women of the world led to the creation of Mothers Day.
Anna Jarvis carried on the initiative, and eventually
fought the ensuing commercialization. Unfortunately,
card companies don’t reference the sentiments for global peace at the heart of
the holiday.
The Proclamation
In
her proclamation, Howe called for an international congress of women to gather
together to work for peace. She decried
the militarization of society and the carnage she had observed first hand as
she visited Civil War battlefields. Read
her words:
Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether your baptism be that of water or 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 taught them of charity, mercy and patience.
We women of one country will be too tender of those of another 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 indicate possession. As
men have often forsaken the plow 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 counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail & commemorate the dead. Let them
solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means whereby the great human
family can live in peace, each bearing after his own time the sacred impress,
not of Caesars 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.
Rock the World: Teach for Peace
William
Ross Wallace’s 1861 poem inspired the saying, “The hand that rocks the cradle rules
the world.” Mothers, fathers, guardians,
grandparents, friends, and teachers: let’s rock the world for peace!
Today
my daughter-in-law offered a heart-felt salutation to our beautiful grandson. I offer the resources below to help us make
her words true for every child in the world:
“This kid. He is going to make the world a better place. He came
into the world wide-eyed and curious. He has never met a stranger. He doles out
smiles without reserve. He is resilient and unafraid. He is completely full of
joy and pure potential.”
Happy Mothers
Day.
--Susan Gelber
Cannon, May 2017
RESOURCES:
- Learn more about Julia Ward Howe: https://www.nwhm.org/education-resources/biography/biographies/julia-ward-howe/
- Link to Waging Peace: "Mother's
Day Proclamation" and a brief biography of Julia Ward Howe: https://www.wagingpeace.org/mothers-day-proclamation/
- Use Peace and Justice Studies
Association list of films for teaching peace: https://www.peacejusticestudies.org/resources/films-teaching-peace
- Read my summary of Michele
Borba’s UNSELFIE,
Why Empathetic Kids Succeed in Our All-About-Me World, with resources for teaching empathy to our
children: http://thinkcareact.blogspot.com/2016/08/teaching-empathy-book-review-of.html
- Read
my summary of BLINDSPOT, Hidden Biases of
Good People, by
Mahzahrin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald, with resources for antibias teaching: http://thinkcareact.blogspot.com/2017/02/diversity-book-club-2-blindspot-hidden.html
- Read
Barnes and Noble blog and use these great books with younger children: 8 Lovely Children’s Books About Peace https://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/kids/8-lovely-childrens-books-about-peace/
- Read my
rationales for teaching peace at all grade levels: http://www.teachforpeace.org/rationales-curricula
- Peruse TeachforPeace critical thinking resources: http://www.teachforpeace.org/think
- Peruse TeachforPeace compassion and caring resources, including human rights, antibias, and antibullying links: http://www.teachforpeace.org/care
- Peruse TeachforPeace social action resources: http://www.teachforpeace.org/act/Youth-resources-for-Art-Poetry-and-Community-Action-Projects
- Learn about Crista Tinari’s PeacePraxis work teaching peace and kindness. Great classroom and home resources are here and in her book: Create a Culture of Kindness: http://www.peacepraxis.com/
- Have fun
viewing “Motherese” videos in various languages: http://motherese.weebly.com/motherese-around-the-world.html
- Learn more about the convoluted path of the Mothers Day holiday and the work of the Peace Alliance: http://peacealliance.org/history-of-mothers-day-as-a-day-of-peace-julia-ward-howe/
- Learn about the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom [WILPF] and its ongoing work for disarmament, peace, and the advancement of civil society: http://wilpfus.org/story/history
- Read William Ross Wallace’s 1861 poem, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle: http://www.potw.org/archive/potw391.html