Of all the special days in this country, I happen to think Mother’s Day, or Mothering Sunday as we in the UK call it, is one of the better ones. Despite the predictable exploitation of the day by supermarkets – I could barely move in Asda yesterday without coming face to face with mounds of flowers and boxes of celebratory chocolates – most of us owe everything to our mothers. Whilst men still rule the world, in terms of politics, economics and power, it is mothers who ensure the world continues to turn.
Mother’s Day is also that great rarity; an American import that enhances our country. I would not say the same about so many others, like McDonalds, Trick or Treat or Kanye West.
I have not been able to celebrate mother’s day in respect of my own mother for some 16 years, on account of her death in 1999, but I remain thankful that she greatly assisted in the process of allowing me to be here at all and to create the man you see today, for better or for worse. For all my complications, I would like to think that, in the things that matter – an ability to distinguish good from bad, the recognition of what matters and what doesn’t and good old fashioned principles such as loyalty and honesty. That she had to do the lot almost completely on her own, a stranger in a strange land (she was Dutch and had no friends of family in this country when she and my dad split up) with almost no support from anyone, she did as good a job as she could have been expected to do. And you can’t ask for more than that.
Mums are the glue that hold families together, at least that’s my experience, albeit not particularly in my family because there was no family to hold together, save my mum and me. We owe them more than words alone, more than a bunch of flowers and a box of chocolates can ever say.
Many mothers give so much to see their children thrive. They often sacrifice careers to raise children, which is why the corridors of power and the boardrooms are still packed with men. Just look in our House of Commons, where the prime minister, the chancellor and the foreign secretary are all men, just as their shadows in the “new politics” of Labour, where the three equivalent post holders are all sixty something white men. This is not a coincidence. We have come a fair way since women were first given the vote, but in terms of genuine equality of opportunity society remains in the dark ages. In many countries, not least in the islamic world, things are even worse than that.
I would say that celebrating one’s mother should not just take place on one day of the year; it should be a constant. One day, mum won’t be there and that’s why she should be celebrated but more than that valued, appreciated and loved.
