I am writing at 1010 Park Place this week. Just click below and come visit, y’all.
http://www.1010parkplace.com/boxed-in/

XO Donna

Mother’s Day is this weekend, and as we all know, it has become synonymous with cards, flowers, candy and restaurants, designed to show our children’s love for us.

Mother’s Day started after the Civil War as a protest to the carnage of that war, by women who had lost their sons. I’m ashamed that I knew nothing about it’s beginnings before today. The Mother’s Day Proclamation, (below) was written by Julia Ward Howe, the same woman who wrote The Battle Hymn of the Republic, a woman dedicated to abolishing war.

I believe that as women, we are powerful beyond our imagination. By honoring and celebrating the original intent behind Mother’s Day; our fierce love for our children and our strong desire for peace for all Mothers in the world, who knows what we can accomplish?

The holiday began in activism; it needs rescuing from commercialism and platitudes. I’d love to see a Mother’s Day for Peace.
That sounds pretty sexy to me!

XO Donna

Mother’s Day Proclamation,  Julia Ward Howe, Boston  1870

Arise, then, women of this day! Arise all women who have hearts,
whether our baptism be that of water or of fears!

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 our 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 and commemorate the dead.

Let them then solemnly take counsel with each other as to the
means whereby the great human family can live in peace, each
bearing after their own time 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
Boston
1870

I know. I know. That’s an oxymoron, isn’t it?

I heard this term used a couple of days ago referring to the rivalry between two college football teams. Rivalry, yes. Hatred?  Uh, no thank you. And to have the audacity to call hatred “healthy.”

To quote Bugs Bunny, “What a maroon.”

Hatred is never healthy, under any circumstances. Just look at all of the bad stuff that’s going on in the world. Every bit of it is brought to you courtesy of Hatred.Inc.

A long time ago, in therapy, I was challenged to pay attention to how many times a day I said that I “hated” something. It was just simple things, day-to-day stuff.

• I hated country western music (remember, this was a long time ago)
• I hated people tailgating me
• I hated shrieking, out-of-control kids in restaurants
• I hated it when people spit on sidewalks
• I hated it when people threw their cigarettes from their cars
• I hated it when people were texting/lap-topping/applying makeup while driving
• I hated it when the neighbor let his dog bark all. night. long.
• I hated it when (fill in the blank)

Her point was that I was doing a lot of hating for someone who wanted more love in her life. And that hatred (even though what I really meant was annoyed) wasn’t a healthy, or constructive, attitude. If you look for things to be annoyed about, you will find yourself mightily annoyed most of the time.

Humans tend to get angry when we are afraid. Rather than sit in that fear, we blame. Blame can lead to hate.  Just like we would with a puppy who wants to chew, or a persistent child who wants to play with an electrical outlet, we need to redirect our mind. Let’s focus on what’s working. Let’s appreciate all that we have. Let’s love the ones we love, and even the ones we don’t.

As my Mom used to say when I was being bratty, “You can catch a lot more flies with honey, Donna.”

I never understood why I’d want to catch flies – but I do understand the power of love to change a bad situation.

Let’s stop hating others based on their religion, their skin color, their sexual orientation, their politics, their income level, their education, or where they come from. Let’s save all of that energy for doing something constructive in our own life, and sharing it with the ones we love.

While I’m on the subject of love. . .even though I’m retired now, I’d sure love to fix Mr Trump’s hair.

Maybe a trim and a little honey to hold it place??

XO Donna