Is Mother’s Day any one’s favorite holiday? We all love our mothers, but sometimes the pressure to find the right gift to express that love can be intense. To most of us, she’s one of the most important people in our lives, which is why it’s perhaps more difficult to find a gift that seems as important as she is. But what if Mother’s Day meant something more than commericialism? What if Mother’s Day was about peace?
In fact, that’s what it was originally intended to be about. Right after the Civil War, Julia Ward Howe – famous for her hawkish anthem, the Battle Hymn of the Republic – surveyed the destruction around her and realized that something needed to be done to stop the killing that was devastating the nation. She tapped into the strength of the nation’s women with a stirring call [4] for one day that women dedicated for peace and disarmament.
Today, America is still at war. And we are still plagued by an enormous stockpile of nuclear weapons [5] – almost 8,500. These weapons cost us billions of dollars per year, lower our credibility abroad and do not protect us from 21st century threats. Abroad, there are thousands more nuclear weapons, threatening global stability, increasing the risk of nuclear terrorism and regional war in places like Pakistan and India, North Korea and the former Soviet States. Reducing and eliminating these nuclear weapons – disarming them – would go a long way toward making the world a more peaceful place for us to raise and love our children.
This year, Ploughshares Fund is tapping our tradition of reclaiming Mother’s Day to issue our own call to women. Like Julia Ward Howe, we’re asking mothers to send out cards asking their families to give them a gift that supports nuclear disarmament, instead of the usual chocolates, flowers or coffee mugs. The gifts, in the form of a specially designed e-card, can be sent at any amount and 100% goes to support the smart and innovative programs that we fund. That means that your gift will go directly to help ease tensions that could spark a nuclear war in Pakistan, find diplomatic solutions to the impasse over Iran’s nuclear program, and help further discussions to reduce nuclear weapons in the U.S. and Russia.
So, this year, honor the mother in your life with a gift [6] that truly means something: the gift of a safer world.
Links
[1] https://ploughshares.org/file/2752
[2] https://ploughshares.org/file/3294
[3] https://ploughshares.org/sites/default/files/IJoOEpiB9pM_2
[4] http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/0000/1870_howe_mothers-day.htm
[5] http://www.ploughshares.org/world-nuclear-stockpile-report
[6] http://ploughshares.org/mothers-day