Mother’s Day – Engaging Peace

A Mom Model for all Moms

Posted on May 10, 2015January 4, 2016 by kathiemm

Activist Frida Berrigan at an anti-war rally in Newark, New Jersey, 2007.
Image by Thomas Good, licensed under GNU Free Documentation License.

For this Mother’s Day, in addition to honoring my own Mom for over 90 years of loving motherhood, I want to celebrate the work of another model of moral engagement—Frida Berrigan. Frida is a long-term peace activist (and yes, she is related to the famous Philip and Daniel Berrigans, who are themselves long-term anti-war activists). She is a columnist for Waging Nonviolence and serves on the National Committee of the War Resisters League.

For Mother’s Day 2015, Frida has written a poignant and captivating essay “Echoes of the original Mother’s Day Proclamation at home and abroad“, which celebrates women who struggle valiantly for peace and justice in 28 active war zones around the world (including the US).

Her examples include:

Madame Kamouss from the Central Republic of Africa

Froilyn Mendoza from the Philippines, and

Shereen, a Syrian refugee who lives with her daughters in a refugee camp in Kawergosk, Iraqi Kurdistan.

Her list also includes the mothers of Freddie Gray, Eric Garner, and Sean Bell, whose sons were killed in the U.S. by police officers in the last few years; all of these mothers are pushing for non-violent protests against injustice.

Frida is also the author of “It Runs in the Family: On Being Raised by Radicals and Growing into Rebellious Motherhood,” which includes considerations of how to rear children non-violently—without spanking, hitting, and similar time-worn-out methods, which many mothers of today are gradually replacing with love, kindness, empathy and other non-violent approaches to parenting.

A father’s day for peace

Posted on June 13, 2013June 12, 2013 by kathiemm

The hype abounds and you are bound to know: June 16, the third Sunday in June, is Father’s Day. Long promoted by commercial interests, Father’s Day did not become an official holiday in the U.S. until 1972. Unlike Mother’s Day, it did not originate as a Father’s Day of Peace. But it could become one.

An Internet search for “mothers against war” provides a link for “Mothers Against War” and many similar links. Searching for “fathers against war,” however, provides links for “War Against Fathers,” which rails against the “feminization” of men.

Similarly, searching for “mothers against guns” leads to links for “Mothers Against Guns,” “Moms Against Guns,” and lots of similar links. But “fathers against guns” provides links to sites regarding views on guns from the U.S. founding fathers, a link to “Dads love lasers on guns,” and a suggestion that children buy a laser for Dad’s gun for Father’s Day.

On the brighter side, there’s a link to a Facebook page for 1,000,000 moms and dads against gun violence, which leads to a trailer for a powerful anti-gun violence film.

This Sunday, let us honor fathers who:

rear their children in love and security
refrain from spanking, beating, or terrorizing their children
promote nonviolence in their homes, their communities, and their countries
promote peace and social justice

Our country has provided some superb role models for fathers and father figures for peace, nonviolence, and social justice. Here are a few men and organizations that we will be honoring on Sunday:

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Contribute a peace of the pie

Posted on May 10, 2012May 9, 2012 by patdaniel

Mother’s Day is Sunday, and the Eighth Annual Mother’s Day National Action Day is tomorrow, Friday May 11.

In 1870, Julia Ward Howe, a Unitarian Universalist, launched a campaign to promote an annual Mother’s Day devoted not to candy and flowers but to disarmament. She placed her trust in mothers as peace activists.

The Peace Alliance recommends that on Mother’s Day National Action Day, women strive to make peace a piece of the pie. Check out their suggestions for what you can do to promote peace tomorrow and every day.

Do this on behalf of the child victims of war. Children are dying horrific deaths daily in many parts of the world, often from drone attacks launched by the United States, or from weapons bought from the US. They lose their limbs and eyesight, as well as their families and neighbors. Children are forced to live as refugees from the wars that devastate their lands.

Mother’s Day is a good day to remember those children and to take action to stop the carnage.

Honor your mother, your grandmother, your wife, or your sister this Mother’s Day by joining the Mother’s Day National Action. Finally, please view a superb documentary on the aftereffects of war.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology

Mother’s Day of Peace

Posted on May 5, 2011July 6, 2011 by kathiemm

“Mine eyes have seen the glory…” These words from the Battle Hymn of the Republic, the famous Civil War song written by Julia Ward Howe, are probably familiar to all of our readers. But how many of you know that Julia, horrified by the Civil War, became an anti-war activist and, in 1870, wrote the Mother’s Day Proclamation, which included the words:

“From the bosum of a 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 plough 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.”

Her efforts led to the establishment in 1872 of a Mothers’ Peace Day Observance, the forerunner and inspiration of the annual Mother’s Day, which is now celebrated around the globe, usually in March, April, or May, depending on the country.

To hear a contemporary reading of Julia Ward Howe’s Mother’s Day Proclamation, go to

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/5/8/mothers_day_for_peace_a_dramatic

These celebrations are not just about flowers and candy; millions of mothers across the world fight year round for peace.

This year, in honor of Mother’s Day, find a way to give a gift of peace (the most peaceful gift you can imagine)—to your mother, to your community, to the world.

Then please submit a comment to this post and tell us what your gift of peace was—a special quiet hour with your mom? A donation of time or money in her name to a peace organization or rally? A gift of peace is a gift of and for life.

Kathie Malley-Morrison, Professor of Psychology