By. Rev. Kwame Gilbert
EVERY year this time, families the world over take time to celebrate mothers and the invaluable contribution they make to human lives.

I too must add my accolade to the two most significant women in my life; my own mother, and the mother of my two sons, my wife.

In 1963 Betty Freidan wrote a book called “The Feminist Mystique”, in which she claimed that women are trapped in an unwanted life of domesticity. Translated into our every day vernacular, that simply means most women hate being mothers and wives.

Three years later, this evangelist of women’s liberation founded The National Organization for Women, a radical political organization designed to promote the cause of what is now known as the feminist movement. This radical feminist movement unleashes indiscriminate assaults on the self-esteem of women who make motherhood their number one priority.

For these anti-family crusaders, the work of child raising is better done by day cares and such that allow for women to take their “rightful place” in the world by competing with men for all that the world of business and commerce can offer.

Most of the women I know, who are in the cooperate world; do not function there on that feminist premise. But rather, for many it is an issue of economic necessity; hence the element of competition, while it does exist, is not the motivation.

But incidentally, the social construct of our time sees women, who have worth and value as those who run a business, serve in political offices, or are on the nightly newscast.

Strangely, women who stay at home to prepare meals, running between groceries, doctor’s appointment, laundry, children’s homework, just to list a few, are viewed as, mundane, boring, and without value.

This is indeed a tragedy for if the truth be told, it is the mothers who manage the homes who are really the heroes of our times. Where do our CEO’s, our doctors, police men and politicians go at the end of every difficult day? And where do they receive encouragement and renewed strength to face the challenges of every new day? And our children, from primary to tertiary? Where do they go?

We all go to the homes, managed, cared for, by the unsung heroes of all times, our mothers.

Emerson (the American Essayist) said, “People are what their mothers make them”. This is a profound statement, but I must add clarification. There are many persons raised by fathers or other guardians who have never known a mother. But Emerson’s argument is not an indictment against mothers, but rather it is an acknowledgement that the nurturing influence we are exposed to dictates who we become.

Abraham Lincoln also recognized this fact when he said, “All that I am and ever hope to be I owe to my Angel mother”.

In many parts of the world, sadly, women are viewed as beast of burdens. But we must be cognizant that Jesus elevated women to a place of honour and Paul the apostle concurred when he said that in the kingdom of God there is no male nor female, but we are one in Christ.

So on this special day, I give honour to all mothers; God’s gift to humanity.