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Mothers play special roles

Mothers may be much different in their public life than they were 105 years ago when President Woodrow Wilson set aside the second Sunday in May 1914 as a day to honor mothers.

Moms then were, by and large, homemakers, what we’d call a “stay-at-home mom” nowadays. They cooked and cleaned and supported their husband, the breadwinner, and reared the kids with the disciplinary hand of dad called in as necessary.

Nowadays, mom is often on her own, struggling with a job or two in a juggling act with finding time to raise the children. Even in conventional mom-and-dad households, mothers face the need for jobs outside the home to make ends meet.

Motherhood is not about all of that. The unchanging role of the mother remains today what it was 105 years ago: A true mother loves her children, no matter what.

A mother, be she biological, or a stepmother or an adoptive mother, has a well of love that runs beyond human understanding.

A mother isn’t a person who endangers her child by using or selling drugs with the children in the crib somewhere nearby.

A mother isn’t the person who allows anyone to come between her and her child, with harm as the intent.

A mother isn’t a baby machine.

Motherhood is something much more than biology.

It’s a connection, a love, that, in the best circumstances, forms an instantaneous bond, from the moment of learning of a pregnancy to the end of either the mother’s life or, in those tragic circumstances that occur, the end of the child’s life.

It’s not an issue of race or creed or religion. Rich or poor, black or white, Christian or Muslim or atheist, the word “mother” should always be able to be followed by the words “loves her children.”

Children sometimes don’t reciprocate. They lead busy lives, they grow less affectionate or less communicative or simply forget.

Take time today to remember your mother. If you were blessed with one who immediately brings to mind the words “loves her children,” be grateful for her and to her.

Don’t wait until a later that never comes.

Make it a truly happy Mother’s Day.

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