Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; a mother’s secret hope outlives them all.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes, American jurist and legal scholar
My colleague once asked me who my greatest warrior – past or present – was that I admired most. I looked at him and gave an instantaneous reply, “Mother.”
Yes, mother! Make that plural – mothers.
Mothers are the unsung heroines, or rather warriors, who work day and night with little or hardly any rest at home or the workplace. They wipe tears, wipe bottoms, wipe noses, wipe tears from their own tired eyes, prepare food for the family, empty the bins, sweep the floor, clean the toilets, make the bed, buy groceries, feed the pets, look after the poultry and on top of that even send the kids to school and fetch them later.
As if these tasks aren’t enough to sap their energy, they have their husbands to ‘look after’ too. They play the role of mother, housewife, husband, office worker, driver, etc, etc. Aren’t society expecting too much from these poor human beings?
To appreciate our mothers, the world has set aside one day in a year to focus on them and thank them for their tireless chores.
Mother’s Day, celebrated on May 14 this year, is an opportunity to show moms appreciation for their sacrifices and dedication in bringing up their children and contributing to their families. The day is also an opportunity to remember and honour mothers who have passed on.
But, I wonder at times if just one day in 365 days is enough to appreciate and thank someone who has dedicated and sacrificed her entire good life taking care of the family. Certainly it doesn’t do any justice!
Worse still, there are people who didn’t appreciate or thank their moms enough when the latter were alive and only thought of their love, care and compassion after they were gone. By then it’s too late. And to compensate for their lack of display of love and care for their moms when they were alive, the children had to make do with Mother’s Day now.
The same colleague asked me how I would describe my mom?
Simple. Mom is one fearless person who will not give up even under extreme difficulties or major obstacles. She overcame all the hardships while bringing up my three sisters and I. Even my late dad found her a pillar of strength and inspiration.
She was and is never a ‘nagger’. She lets us do what we want and supports our decisions and encourages us. Of course she will make known her views first, but let us decide.
Mom will lend an ear and shoulder, showing sympathy and concern whenever we are going through something and makes sincere efforts to find solutions. Her principle is simple: we sink or swim together.
One attribute of my mom is she is very fair. Despite the fact I am the only boy in the family, I was never babied. Mom treated everyone equally, without discriminating. Anyone who did wrong will be reprimanded.
I have but one grouse though. Mom was very protective of us when we were young and went out of the way to stop anything from hurting you. This made us over reliant on her and prevented us from handling ourselves the troubles that came our way.
We would all run to mummy for help. She would take care of the problems, be it the kids in the neighbourhood who bullied us or if we wanted to buy stationery from the shop some two hundred metres from our home. Mom never allowed us to go out alone without dad or herself accompanying us.
Mom is someone who we can always count on to get things done. She never lets us down.
She is a free-thinking and individualistic person who doesn’t depend on others to get things done. She is 82 now; other than getting us to accompany her for her routine medical check-ups, she does most of the cooking and other minor household chores.
Mother is a helpful and good-natured person. Neighbours find her friendly and helpful – a generous person who is prepared to go the extra mile for friends.
My mom is a ‘one-of-a-kind’ special person who is irreplaceable. To be honest, no one is unique like her and no one can ever take her place. For me, there can only be one mom in this world! And I pray the Almighty will give her good health for many more years to come.
Wishing you Happy Mother’s Day, mom! Everyday is Mother’s Day!
The views expressed here are those of the columnist and do not necessarily represent the views of New Sarawak Tribune.
