A tribute to mothers and motherhood from a son

Photo:Burl Hays (Japan Today)

Dearest Mother,

From two half cells, I formed within You,
I grew and divided . . . and grew and divided . . . and grew and divided,
I became a bunch of rapidly expanding cells,
I grew in size till I became uncomfortable for You,
I drank Your blood all the while,
Yet You never complained even a bit,
But took care of me to the hilt like any Mother.

I grew so much that I gave You unbearable pain,
I refused to step out into the bad world,
They had to cut You up to take me out,
Yet You did not complain,
I cried because I caused You so much pain,
But You smiled when You heard me cry,
I will never understand why You did that, Mother.

You sacrificed so much of your time to take care of me,
I was selfish enough to think I deserved it,
But You were selfless enough to give up so many things for me,
And when the first word escaped from my lips,
You were delighted beyond what words could describe,
Your Heart must have leapt with joy,
When You heard me say “Mother”.

I grew up to be a boy,
And Your joy grew up with me,
For I was, I am and I will always be Your little bundle of joy,
When I took my first step, I could see the joy on Your face,
And when I fell down, I could see it turn into concern,
When I fell down from my bicycle and injured myself,
I could see the sorrow on Your face, Mother.

When I left home to attend school,
I could never stop thinking about You,
And You could never stop thinking about me,
The day I went missing on my way home, You searched frantically for me,
Along with the man who gave me my Y-chromosome, and when You found me,
You hugged me so hard, that it brought tears to even the eyes of Your companion,
I guess he must have been reminded of his Mother.

When I broke my leg, it must have broken Your Heart,
I was no longer a boy, and You did not want me to remain a Mamma’s boy,
When I bloodied myself, I shouted hard as they stitched me up,
But I heard You sobbing, and I stopped shouting,
Please forgive me if I have hurt You inadvertently, as I do not have that right,
But there is only one person in the world who has a right to hurt me,
Ofcourse, that person is You, Mother.

Besides me, You have made a difference in the lives of many other children and young people,
But why did You go through so much for me?
I know I should not ask You that, for that is what Motherhood is all about,
But how on Earth can I ever repay You?
I think I know the answer too,
And that is to do exactly what Father Time wanted me to do on Mother Earth,
So that when I die, I can happily say, “Thank You very much, Mother!“

I truly love You, dear Mother!

On Mother’s Day, I express my heartfelt gratitude to every Mother. Enjoy Your day, Mothers! The world would be nothing without You! As far as I am concerned, since we live on Mother Earth, every day is a Mother’s Day!

Earth Day

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 in many countries.Click on the link to find out more about Earth Day.I believe the concept of Earth Day is more important now than it was ever before.

Unofficial Earth Day flag,by John McConnell:the Blue Marble on a blue background . . .

Image:Wikimedia Commons

Dear Mother Earth,

Your own sons and daughters are killing you,
They are suffocating you with the exhaust from their fuel-guzzling and fume-spewing vehicles,
They are digging you up to extract mineral ores,
They are boring holes through you to extract oil and natural gas,
They are throwing their waste all over you,
They are letting out their sewage into your beautiful rivers and lakes,
They are killing your other sons and daughters for profit or even pleasure,
They are cutting down your beautiful trees,
They are destroying your wonderful diversity,
They are testing nuclear weapons in underground sites,
They are spraying chemical weapons over you in times of war,
They are releasing biological weapons to cause havoc,
They are releasing chlorofluorocarbons into the atmosphere,
They are skinning some of your children to adorn their feet,
They are killing some of your majestic children to use their bones in traditional medicine,
They are toying with your laws by genetically modifying food,
They are killing the largest mammals in the name of ’scientific research’,
They are melting your glaciers and polar ice-caps,
They are sinking you in your own oceans,
They are polluting your truly pure water and air and then sell them as ‘pure’ bottled water and oxygen,
If I ask them,
They tell me “Nothing comes for free“,
They tell me that ‘free trade’ is free,
They tell me that ‘free market capitalism’ is free,
They do not realise that those two concepts are dangerous oxymoronic nonsense,
They sometimes call me names for daring to call a spade a spade,
But I know that the best things-life,love,sunlight,air,water and natural beauty are always truly free,
Your love for me is always free,
My love for you is always free,
As I have learnt to control my greed,
As I never try to take anything more than I actually need,
As I try not to exceed the limits of what you can tolerate,
As I try not to exceed the average ecological footprint for humans,
For I truly love you,dear Mother Earth!

A nightmare or a dream?

 

At an unspecified location,at an unspecified time,a great battle was raging.The two sides were equally balanced in terms of skill and numbers.One would not have been able to differentiate the combatants of the opposing camps by just looking at their faces.One could tell that only by looking at their armour.Even that was similar except the fact that the colours were different.The fighters of one side wore blue and silver while their opponents were decked in green and yellow.

The battlefield though was crimson.Blood red.Blood was flowing like water into the earth.The great river that flowed nearby exhibited no sign of the violence though.It was as calm as a lake but continued gently on its onward journey to join the sea.

Nothing was calm about the battle by any stretch of the imagination.The clash of swords and the battle cries of the warriors could have been heard from a kilometre away.Poisoned arrows flew thick and fast into the mass of swordsmen.Spears were thrown at opponents with deadly precision.There would have been no victor in this battle.The men did not fight to win the battle.They fought to kill each other.To kill as many as possible before being killed themselves by someone else.So the battle would have ended only when everyone was killed except maybe one man.And even he would have been drained so completely by that time that he would have had only a few seconds to raise his sword in triumph.He would have dropped down dead soon after that.It was a senseless battle being fought over nothing.

But it was certainly being fought.There was no doubt about that at all.Swords slit throats,spears punctured lungs and arrows pierced hearts.It was the same everywhere on the field.Warriors from both sides were dropping down in equal numbers.

In one corner of the field,two men were engaged in a fierce duel.They were equally matched.Their swords struck the opposing shields,were taken back,only to be thrust at the opponent again.It went on and on and on . . . until a spear from somewhere pierced the neck of one man.He dropped down with a sickening cry.His opponent let out a loud cry of triumph,maybe relief.But at the very next moment,a poison tipped arrow flew right into his shoulder.He knew that this was it.He was finished.He managed to pull the arrow out of his shoulder but could do no more.He slumped down with his killer still held in his hand.It was getting dark by now.The poison was acting fast.He could feel life slowly ebbing out of him.He could not hear the sounds of the battle anymore.He could only manage to hear his own heart thumping wildly as if it knew it had to finish its allotted number of beats before it ceased to pump blood and life to the other parts of his body.His feet went numb first,then his legs,then his arms and then his heart.He just about managed to close his eyes in time and mumble something . . .

. . . It was completely dark now.Everything was still.Not a sound could be heard.Then,as if it was a bolt out of the blue,a torch was shone into his eyes.He could feel the warmth,but could not open his eyes.Someone shook him as if to see if there was any sign of life left in him.He could do nothing.

“Hey,wake up!”It was the voice of a woman.

“Whaaa . . . ?”

“I heard you screaming and mumbling something in your sleep”,she said.

“Oh!Well,I never thought . . .”,his voice trailed off.He could now see the sun shining brightly through the window,right into his face.He squinted and turned away from the window.He looked at the woman.

“Had a nightmare,I believe?”,she could not help smiling.

“More of a dream . . . a nightmarish dream.And I don’t know if it is over or if it has just begun”

“Have you not woken up yet?It’s already late”,she said,looking at the clock.

“I know . . . I think I’ve missed the bus . . . or the train . . . or the boat . . . or the plane . . . whatever.I will have to take the next one”

“Missed the bus or the train or the boat or the plane?What do you mean?There is still plenty of time left.It’s only six”

“Hmmm . . . yes . . . and there seems to be another left”

“What?There is hardly half-an-hour left!”

“Yes,yes,I know . . . I meant something else though . . . my dream . . . or nightmare . . . or nightmarish dream . . .”,he said as he stood up slowly.

“Are you still out of your mind?”,she looked at him with a puzzled look.

“Maybe . . . or maybe out of my body”,he made sure she could not hear this.

“Hope you make it in time”,she smiled and walked away,looking a bit confused.

“I think ‘into time’ would have been a better choice”,again to himself.He looked out of the window and into the sky . . .