On Mother's Day: A Toast to Julia Ward Howe, to Peace

I know: On Mother's Day, you think of your mother and her wonderful virtues: her good cooking (especially those chocolate chip cookies!), her warm smile, her kind disposition, her unending patience, her undying love. But do you also think of peace? Maybe you should. Julia Ward Howe did.

You remember Julia Ward Howe don't you? She was the abolitionist who worked with families on both sides during the civil war. And how can you forget that she was the poet who penned the Battle Hymn of the Republic? But she was also an activist who organized the first Mother's Day celebrations. Yes, it fizzled out, because this violent, sexist country tend to criticize, demoralize folks who want peace, especially women. Funny how that works, huh?

But, having worked with families during the war, Julia had seen the pain, the blood and sheer nonsense of violence developed, promoted and led by men with huge egos and little compassion. That's why she came up with the idea of establishing a day to focus on peace throughout the world. And what better group to call on and to celebrate than the ones who bore the sons, who felt the hopeless and unending pain of watching them march off to be slaughtered like hogs in a pigpen? To Julia, the greatest gift was not a dozen roses or a card with nice words but a world at peace.

You know what I'm going to do this Sunday evening, this Mother's Day? I'm going to sit at my kitchen table, listen to some Miles Davis, and make a toast to Julia Ward Howe-- to peace in our time.

How about you?