Belated Mother’s Day. Commercial interests have made the day a Hallmark moment but there truly is something sacred about the responsibilities of mothering, even if some cannot live up to them (often due to their own poor mothering). No cruelty is more unforgiving in life than the mistreatment of children which leads to a lifetime of sorrow. Loving & protecting children is a mother’s first, primary, & eternal concern, not just for the welfare of individual children but for all society. There are attempts, often disguised as progressive but at heart misogynist, to demean the role of mothers. It is a sacred (that is not too pompous a word) responsibility & trust to care for, nurture, love, & protect children especially in these very dangerous times where children & women are among the chief victims of violence.

This photo is a Rohingya mother porting her children across the border river to seek asylum in Bangladesh last October 2017.

(Photo by Jorge Silva/Reuters)