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!

LET SARABJIT LIVE!

I was working on a different post but this one gets top priority. This is about Sarabjit Singh (also called Manjit Singh by some people), a man of Indian nationality from the Indian state of Punjab who is accused of carrying out three separate bombings in Lahore, Pakistan. Sarabjit Singh (called Manjit Singh by Pakistani authorities) was handed the death penalty in Pakistan for his alleged role in the bombings and his mercy petition to commute his sentence to life was rejected by the Pakistan President Gen. (retd.) Pervez Musharraf. Read more about the story on this link.

My stand on the death penalty has always been crystal clear! I have written about it. Read my views about capital punishment on this link. I never adopt double standards on any issue. The death penalty simply has to go!

Sarabjit must live! The Pakistan President need not pardon him at all. All he needs to do is to reconsider his decision to turn down Sarabjit’s appeal requesting him to commute his sentence to life imprisonment.

For all those who support the death penalty or are ambivalent about it, take a look at what his family are going through through on this link! The man and his family are already half dead! I hope you change your minds and support the abolition of the mediæval practice called execution! Execution must die! Death to the death penalty! Live and let live!

Related posts:

DEATH to the death penalty!
Some hope for Sarabjit, at last!