Did you know that Julia Ward Howe also wrote the Battle Hymn of the Republic? Women of that era who suffered through the Civil War, knew just as we do today that matters of war and peace are never simple. It's easy to read the Mother's Day Proclamation and think of it as a naive sentiment, but really looking back at Julia Ward Howe's life, I think she and her contemporaries well knew just how much they were asking.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mothers Who Talk, and to all the other moms out there.
I realize that this is the third year in a row that I've posted Julia Ward Howe's beautiful Mother's Day Proclamation. Well, there's still a war going on, so why stop now?
You may already know this, but I'll repeat it anyway: This is not a Hallmark holiday. It's an activist holiday, founded by women who had lost sons in the civil war.
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, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
