On this Mother’s Day, I’m thinking about the news. Most news stories seem to be incredibly negative. Terrorist bombings, beheadings, shootings, hurtful remarks, all of it coming from hate. If you believed everything the news tells you, you’d guess the entire world is about to collapse in on itself–consumed by hate.
I choose to not give these stories much attention. Sure, I’ll listen, watch, read enough to know what happened but then I walk away. Hatred is an emotion that will kill you, and I don’t have enough life left in me to deal with hatred. I have better ways to spend my little speck of time. Besides, there is so much more Love in the world than hatred.
I’ll prove it.
It could be argued that I have scientific and numerical proof, or at least a strong hypothesis. Are you ready to hear it? I’ll warn you, a little bit of archeological theory is about to be tossed at you, don’t worry, it’s nothing too heavy.
A vast, very vast majority of mammals give birth to babies that can independently move, walk or swim within minutes of being born. Humans are one of the exceptions. Here’s a scientific theory I have heard, and I tend to buy into this one:
Once upon a time a very distant and hairy cousin of ours decided to stop knuckle-walking, and give bipedal walking a try. It was great! The view was way better, they were no longer smelling the rear end of whoever was in front of them and they could now carry stuff while walking. However there was a sacrifice, bipedal walking requires different weight distribution. The hips can’t be splayed out because the legs need to be underneath the body, hence, our hips are significantly narrower than the hips of our knuckle walking cousins. Narrow hips means a narrow birth canal. This means giving birth to a fully developed baby that could walk or crawl was physically impossible – it would mean death for the mother, probably death for the baby. Bipedalism was literally preventing humans from giving birth, at least giving birth to a baby that is considered birth-ready when compared to the rest of the mammal world.
So what does Mother Nature do about this?
Move back the birth date of course! Mother Nature, Evolution, Science, God (nearly everyone has a name for it) decided to move the birth date back to a stage of development when the baby is still small enough to pass through the narrow birth canal.
By Mammalian standards, humans are all premature. We’re born fetal when we should still be cooking in the womb. Newborns are completely helpless, unable to move on their own, unable to communicate beyond crying. We are unable to feed ourselves, unable to clean ourselves, unable to properly dispose of our own waste. Babies are capable of doing practically nothing. We leave the warm comfortable womb early, it could be argued that our births are a traumatic experience for us. Time and time again it’s been proven that we still need that womb for the first several months – human babies require nurturing. We need to be held and comforted. Babies that aren’t nurtured, wither and die.
Why am I telling you all of this? Because what this means is that every person you see – your boss, your co-workers, strangers on busses, that homeless guy, strangers passing you on the sidewalk, that jackass who is tailgating you – they were all given complete and total care at some point in their lives. From a Maasai Shepherd in Kenya to a prostitute in Moscow, Northeastern “Old Money” Prep School Boys to Gator Hunters in the Bayou; from the Pope to the Dali Lama to Ted Bundy to Adolf Hitler, they were all once “premature” they were all helpless newborns. Every adult human is a testament to Love. Every human you see who made it to adulthood, made it because someone changed their diapers, nursed them through illness, held them, and made tears disappear. Every human has at some point had their ear pressed to the chest of another human, listening to a heartbeat.
Every person you see, has experienced Love – some more than others. Those who get the bare minimum, I feel terrible for them, but they still felt it and experienced it. A pin prick of light is still light and every point of light makes dark just a little less dark.
The numbers can be nothing short of overwhelming. The number of lives brought into being by Love is larger than the lives destroyed by hate, and that number will always be larger. So long as persons are living past babyhood, then Love will always win over hate.
Every time you hear something on the news, something tragic, horrible, violent and hate-driven, remember: Love is still stronger. Remember that, and seek it out.
Is it a Mother’s Love? I guess this question begs another couple of questions in order to find the answer. What is a Mother? Does Motherhood only require that a baby be pushed out of a narrowed birth canal?
No. As with all things, it’s the follow-through that matters.
The title might be given quickly and easily, but it takes a lifetime to earn that honor.
Some of the world’s greatest mothers never gave birth: there are millions of children who are Loved by Stepmothers, adoptive Mothers, and Caregivers. There are millions of adults who will likely never reunite with that orphanage volunteer who rocked them to sleep every night.
So long as Love exists, Hate will never win.
So long as Mothers exist, Hate will never win.
Someone Loved you into being who you are. Some can be reached by phone, some by prayer. Others are little more than a blurred image with a comforting voice who only visits in dreams.
Regardless of who that person is or was, everyone had one and today is a great day to think about who you call “Mom”.
Love your Loved ones, and be Loved by those who Love you.
Happy Mother’s Day everyone.