I am sick and tired of living in a culture where mothers are not valued enough, simply because most of the work they do cannot be quantified or expressed in monetary terms. And no, this is not a token ‘women’s issue’ that I am highlighting by making generic or baseless statements. I do not get why people do not understand that mothers form the glue that hold families together. They are literally heroes in ways that we cannot simply imagine.
I do not believe in publicly communicating about such issues, but I have also realised that writing is the only way in which I can express and articulate myself. Also, it never hurts to celebrate people beyond a consumerist Mother’s Day and letting the world know about the heroes in your life.
I have been raised to become a strong and resilient woman – and more importantly, a good human being. As I grow older, I realise that whenever someone compliments or appreciates me for the way I am, I can almost always trace it back to what I got from my mom. Hell, even the feminist ideals that I cherish so deeply, were actually taught to me by you, my dear mom, even though we did not attribute conceptual tags to them at that time.
Mumma, you may be annoyingly patient, selfless and strong, but you have to also know that you are allowed to break down and cry, because crying is not a sign of weakness. You probably do not even realise what a great service you did to me by always making me feel comfortable in my own skin (to the extent that people body-shaming me was never a concern). Probably, you also do not realise how you made me believe in my abilities whenever I wanted to give up, how you taught me to be confident about the person that I am and how you stood by me in times when nobody else did.
When I see girls my age still struggling with these things, I feel glad that you helped me overcome such issues way before they became things of concern. You also taught me that being loud does not necessarily mean that one is right, that constructive criticism must never stem from insults, judging other people for their flaws is never healthy, and that there is no one way to ‘be’.
There is a reason why I gifted you the mug that says ‘Behind every great kid is an amazing mom’. Believe that! I do not promise that I will be successful in socially-acceptable terms, but I promise you that I will not succumb to failures and will live my life with dignity and joy. Most importantly, I will tell the world that you brought to life two kickass women who will keep fighting (even with each other, at times) – like you do, no matter what!
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Featured image used for representative purposes only.