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As worthy as the tradition of  honoring mothers as childbearers,  as nurtures, as the caretakers of the future is, the original intent of  Mother’s Day had a higher purpose.   In 1870, American poet and women’s leader Julia Ward Howe established Mother’s Day. Her gesture was   a call for women to wage a general strike to end war. Mother’s Day was an anti-war statement, to celebrate peace and at that time to heal the pains of the Civil War. In her Mother’s Day Proclamation in Boston she wrote,

            “Our husbands shall not come to us reeking of carnage,

            For caresses and applause.

            Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

            All that we have been able to teach of

            charity, mercy and patience.”

As  mother’s mourn  the loss of their fallen sons and daughters in the fifty wars that are happening around the world now, or grieving  others lost to the organized violence of  suicide bombings around the world, Mother’s Day can return to its original intent and call for men to stop playing at war. We can call on our male dominated Congress, where only one Congressperson has a child in the military, to think twice before they send other people’s children to fight their wars.  Code Pink has devoted itself to peacemaking with a twist of humor and theater.  Peacexpeace links women together in a global circle for peace. See the amazing peace work women are doing around the world.