The Honored Pedestal

As Seen in the HEARTbeat and Village Voice

The Honored Pedestal

            Among all the different skin tones, among all the different hair styles, among all the different accents we have, different vocations, different tastes, there is one thing we all have in common – we all have an ego.  They may come in a variety of sizes, but you have to agree we all have one.  The Oxford Dictionary defines an ego as: “A person's sense of self-esteem or self-importance.”  Because I am limited by article size, I won’t even get into the id, the ego, and the super-ego as defined by the renowned Austrian Neurologist Sigmund Freud.  For our simple discussion, we’ll stick to the Oxford Dictionary.

            What we think of ourselves is important.  Do we value ourselves?  Do we appreciate ourselves?  Does the value of our self-worth emanate in our expressions and behaviors?  If they don’t, then there is an issue to be resolved.  Here is one final question:  Should we love ourselves?  I say yes!  Frankly, if we do not love ourselves, how can we accept love from another person?  Plainly put, if you don’t find yourself lovable, how can you expect someone else to do so?  Ouch!

            There is a person in everyone’s life who isn’t loved enough or given enough “credit” and that would be our mothers.  Like an ego, we all have one.  They do a thankless job of cleaning, shopping, cooking, rearing children, playing taxi driver for the kid’s sports teams, volunteers for events, and the list could go on forever.  A mother plays so many roles in our lives, it’s hard to imagine how they do it.  While there may be a few men who could do the job of a mother, a mother can cross the traditional role aisle and play both positions – with ease!

            Many times mothers do the jobs they have traditionally been placed in (with reference to the family) without much praise.  Face it, if men had to give birth to children, there would be an immediate drop in the birth rate!  Women birth the babies, they feed the babies, they change the majority of the diapers, they feed the baby, and conduct most of the nurturing.  I’m not diminishing the role the father in raising children, but if all fathers were honest, they would agree the mother of their children is the most important role, especially when thinking of their own mother.

            God created woman to be a help-mate to Adam.  They were to tend the garden and pro-create.  Adam was created special by God, from the dirt of the ground.  He was perfect.  But God created woman from Adam’s rib.  From perfection God created perfection, as well as gave her a role to walk beside Adam, not behind nor ahead.  Eve had different tasks as a woman, but she was no less perfect than Adam.

            During this time of year we honor women, specifically mothers – those who bear children, those who adopt children, and those who play mother to the kids next door.  We should honor them and place them on the “Pedestal of Honor”, but we need to say thank you every single day to them for the jobs they do day in and day out to make this world a better place to grow up in.