A mother’s day should be year-round.
A mother’s love, care, strength, and — most importantly — instinct cannot be measured. While it has measurable outcomes, its outcomes do not suffice in defining the durable advantage it gives the individual who received it as a child.
I can only speak for myself when I say that my mother is not only one-of-a-kind, but a kind, fiercely honest, clear, focused, mathematically intelligent, creative, committed, determined, and original mother. These are all traits she shares with her mother (my grandmother). My mom stopped at nothing to ensure my sister and I had not only the best formal education but the best life education money couldn’t buy (although money always helps).
My mom’s originality far surpasses the average. She is a goal-setter as well as a trend-setter. Against all odds, criticism, insults, mind games, expectations, and betrayal, her attitude remained intact. When she had moments of struggle, she was never afraid to be honest and clear with her struggles. She did so even when she struggled to communicate all she must have been feeling due to the weight of being an original that she carried on her shoulders.
Being an original has its upsides. Everyone envies her confidence, clarity of mind, and ability to assess and take calculated risks — especially other women. The complexity of this envy is quite simple as their envy is based largely on a lack of understanding, acceptance, and self-analysis.
The not-so-positive sides of originality are the ridicule she received for being different and the insults about the kind of mothering she was executing (because it was far from being understood at the time). Time is always the greatest measure of accuracy versus opinion. There are many today that will claim just how impressive my mom is and what she accomplished not only with herself but with her kids as if she’s become some kind of hero. The fact remains that she’s been a hero since day one. It’s always been irrelevant to me whether or not people recognize that because seeing things for what they are is not exactly our strong point as human beings. Like my mom, I, therefore, put very little weight in people’s opinion-based assumptions that lack the depth to be considered anything but shallow. It is a common human behavior to put down the unique individual that everyone swears is “wrong,” “weird,” and “different” only to turn around and copy that same individual while doing one of two things:
- pretending there was never a problem; or
- (most commonly) creating the illusion that these new, inventive, original ideas came to mind by divine intervention and growth instead of from an individual who lead the way in the face of opposition.
Witnessing these constant attacks on my mom was never easy for me. Her ability to have the right attitude in any difficult circumstance that I witnessed (and many I didn’t), gave me perspective on my emotions. She taught me by example how to synthesize my feelings with the way I think about what I think about. This process has taken me a long time. As life continues to challenge me, I always return to my mother’s principles.
A good attitude will never decay.
Learn how to learn.
It’s ok to be scared, but never be afraid.
If you have to cry, do so and keep moving. Never stop, even if you come to a crawl.
Education will always be the key to freedom.
Straighten up to fly right.
Don’t compare yourself to anyone, but if you are going to, compare yourself only to the best.
There are no guarantees in life except for the couple we don’t like to prepare for, therefore, learn to prepare yourself and you’ll always seem to be lucky.
In conclusion, none of us would be here without our mothers. Take each day to humbly realize that every day of the year, not just Mother’s Day. It will make the difference in your understanding of the empathy all mothers have not only earned but deserve.
Good, bad, or indifferent: what principles did you learn from your mother?
