El Universo,
Ecuador
Consumerism Defiles American Legacy of Mother's Day
By Aminta Buenano Rugel
Translated By Paula van de Werken
May 14, 2006
Ecuador - El Universo - Original
Article (Spanish)
Has a Day Designed to Extol the Undeniable
Virtues of Motherhood Been Sillied By the Guilt
Imposed on Children By Consumerism?.
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The
enormous pain felt by North American Ana Jarvis when her mother died made her turn
to the Philosopher's Stone, to transmute the energy of pain into a
universal day of homage to Motherhood. But the consumer society has totally
corrupted this tribute to one the most emblematic functions of the feminine principle.
As
she wrote letters incessantly to politicians, senators, bishops and
journalists, asking that a day to honor mothers be established, Ana Jarvis
would never have imagined that the market would swallow up the sincerity and
importance of her struggle, converting it into a flood of conspicuous
consumption and the sound of jingling coins, as it is expressed by children
toward their mothers. Referring to this, Les Luthiers ironically parodied "Money
doesn't make happiness, it purchases it ready-made."
[Editor's Note: Actually, the first person to have instigated an annual Mother's day was abolitionist, social activist and poet, Julia Ward Howe, in 1870. [], Anna Jarvis, however, was the moving force that had Mother's Day declared a national holiday].
Prime Mover Behind
Mother's Day:
Anna Jarvis.
[Anna Jarvis]
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Compelled to do so
by Anna, the day that President Woodrow Wilson put his signature to a
proclamation that set aside the second Sunday of May to honor mothers, the trigger
of the market had been pulled. Today there isn't a mother, young or old, that
doesn't feel at least mild frustration if her children fail to give her a gift,
however small it might be.
And she
doesn't love them any less, notwithstanding that the media, the malls, and
society in general would have her believe that she must receive something
material this day. This goes against the grain of the maternal instinct, which
is usually characterized by unconditional love. This pressure works not only on
mothers, but it works perhaps even more strongly on children – or in other
words, those who try to beg for her attention, time, and especially affection,
with a gift.
Without
doubt, Ana Jarvis esteemed the miracle of maternal love in a world besieged by
useless dogma, by merciless competitors mired in a tenacious war in which hate,
ambition and intolerance corrupt everything.
This (motherly)
love must really contain something of the Divine, which allows it always to look
upon children with a loving heart, just as, surely, God sees them. For a
mother, there is no ugly, bad, or crazy child. If we listen to a mother, all of her
children have something special, some rare gift, or something that makes them
unique and marvelous. This unconditional love surrounds them with an aura by
which, according to mothers, their children never stop being babies, even if
they are bald or have grey hair. That her baby always needs her care and her protection,
even if the "baby" is a security chief, is 5'9", and
frightens others by sight. And through a magical process, this Executive woman
or Lord of the Ring, in facing his or her mother, again becomes a child that
needs hugs, kisses and attention. Even a heart of stone opens like a fan before
them.
President Woodrow Wilson With His Wife and Daughters
on the First Official Mother's Day in 1914.
[Official Proclamation Creating Mother's Day]
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For this
reason, the absence of a mother creates desolation for many; for this reason
her loss is an emptiness, a void, a lack of a point of support in this crazy
world. Jean Paul Sartre wrote: "The day a man loses his mother, he begins
to grow old," because with her, he is the eternal child who feels
unbeatable, never alone, lodged in the cradle of her all-powerful love, and
humility emerges from the man who knows that he will die the same as she. For
this reason, this love is a miracle when real, is an event of importance, and should
be honored every day. Bersot said it better than I could: "Many marvels
there are in the universe, but the masterpiece of creation is the mother's
heart."
Spanish Version Below
¿Amor
con amor se paga?
El enorme
dolor de la norteamericana Ana Jarvis ocasionado por la muerte de su madre que
la hizo querer trasmutar esa energía de dolor en la piedra filosofal de lo
eterno, en un día universal que rindiera culto a una
de las funciones más emblemáticas del principio femenino: la maternidad, ha
sido por la sociedad de consumo totalmente desnaturalizado.
Jamás
hubiera imaginado Ana Jarvis, mientras escribía e inundaba con sus cartas a
políticos, senadores, obispos, periodistas pidiendo que se instituyera un día
para honrar a las madres, que el mercado se tragara el
verdadero sentido y significado de su lucha y lo tradujera en una cascada de
ofertas de consumo que, en monedas contantes y sonantes, expresara el afecto de
un hijo hacia su madre. Por algo Les Luthiers con fina ironía parodian: "El
dinero no hace la felicidad, la compra hecha".
El día en
que el presidente Woodrow Wilson, empujado por Ana, estampó su firma para que
la segunda semana de cada mes de mayo estuviera dedicada a honrar a las madres,
disparó el gatillo del mercado. Ahora no hay madre, joven o anciana, que no
sienta aunque sea una ligera frustración si sus retoños no le dan un obsequio, por pequeño que sea.
Y no es
que los ame menos, sino que los medios de comunicación, los centros comerciales
y toda la sociedad la empujan a creer que tiene que recibir algo material en ese día, contra natura del verdadero principio materno que
usualmente da amor desinteresado. Y esta presión opera no solo en las madres,
sino, quizá más fuerte, en los hijos. En ellos que tratan de suplir con un regalo atención, tiempo y especialmente afecto.
Ana
Jarvis sin duda pensaba en el milagro del amor materno
en un mundo asediado por dogmas inútiles, por competencias despiadadas y
sumidas en una guerra tenaz en que el odio, la ambición y la intolerancia lo
corrompen todo.
Algo de
divino en realidad debe tener este amor que hace ver a
los hijos con la mirada bondadosa con que, seguramente, los ve Dios. Para una
madre no hay hijo feo, malo ni tonto. Todos, si
escuchamos a una madre, tienen algo especial, un rarísimo don, algo que los hace maravillosos y únicos. Ese amor incondicional los rodea de un aura por el cual, según las madres, sus
hijos nunca dejan de ser unos bebés a pesar de que ya sean calvos o tengan el
pelo cano. Ese bebé siempre necesita de sus cuidados, de su protección, aunque
aquel sea jefe de seguridad, mida 1,80 y atemorice con
su sola vista. Y por un proceso mágico esa mujer
ejecutiva o ese titán del ring, frente a su madre, se convierten de nuevo en
niños que necesitan de mimos, besos y atención. Y cualquier corazón de piedra
se abre como un abanico ante ellas. Por eso la
ausencia de una madre es desoladora para muchos, por eso su pérdida es un vacío, un desentrañamiento, la falta de un punto de apoyo
en este loco mundo. Jean Paul Sartre escribió: "El día en que un hombre
pierde a su madre, comienza a envejecer", porque con ella se va el niño
eterno que se sentía imbatible con su madre, nunca solo, afincado a la raíz de
su amor todopoderoso y emerge la humildad del hombre que sabe que va a morir
igual que ella. Por eso ese amor, cuando es real, es
un milagro y un acontecimiento que hay que honrar todos los días, Bersot lo
dijo mejor que yo: "Muchas maravillas hay en el universo; pero la obra
maestra de la creación es el corazón materno".