For Those With Mothers
By Margaret Dulaney
Several friends and I recently put on a benefit for a Haitian microfinance organization called Fonkoze. Much of Fonkoze’s work aids women, most mothers, who are considered “catastrophically poor,” a term which is sorrowfully fitting. We planned this event during the time when our own county was gearing up to spend nearly 15 billion dollars to celebrate its own mothers, many of whom might be considered by those outside our country to be “catatonically privileged.” But the fact is, we should be honoring mothers. We need them, we need all of them, and this is why I would like to suggest we rethink the American Mother’s Day.
Imagine if we were inspired to give the same amount that we give to our own mothers on Mother’s Day (over one hundred dollars a household) to help other mothers, mothers who are watching their children slowly waste away from hunger (300 million), curable diseases (6 million), foul water (400 million), homelessness (600 million), no hope of education (121 million), no hope (immeasurable, immeasurably sad).
Call it Reach Around the World Day, call it Mothers Everywhere Day. Call it Inter-Dependence Day.
No, no, no, I have it! Call it Children’s Day!
Oh dear, this just in… There IS a Children’s Day. Who knew? It was established by the United Nations first in 1954 (my God, it’s been around longer than I have), reestablished in 1959 (then why haven’t I heard of it?), again in 1989 (good lord, this grows absurd), and reinstated for the fourth time in 2000, when it was connected to the United Nation’s Millennium Development Goals which aims to reduce the number of people living in extreme poverty by half by the year 2015. Where have I been living? It’s on November 20. Did I just crawl out of some cave? November 20.. I had no idea. November 20, let me think… November 20! November 20 is when we’re counting the shopping days until Christmas, deciding on whether brussels sprouts will be one of the seven “sides” we’ll be serving at Thanksgiving! Reminding us of the plight of children in extreme poverty at such a time makes no sense, we’re already in the thick of if, the dreaded sprouts are piled high on the plate, we’re slipping them to the dog under the table. This is hardly the time!
But, hold on a minute, perhaps this is just the very best time. Thanksgiving has been an endangered holiday for decades, threatened by the tsunami of unbridled gluttony. Perhaps we could save it from going the way of the American Christmas, which has been drowning in the depths of unnecessary consumerism for years. If only we could think of a way to connect Children’s Day with Thanksgiving Day! We might just save the good old holiday and save ourselves as well. Why not? Why not celebrate our harvest by sharing it with the world? Children’s Day. Think of it.
