Honor mom with message
Published 12:01 am Sunday, May 8, 2011
Along with families across the country, retailers and restaurateurs are celebrating the love we feel for our mothers today.
To honor mom, Americans will spend an estimated $16.3 billion on flowers, electronics, gift cards and other pampering presents. Many moms will also receive some sort of
store-bought greeting card imprinted with a commercialized sentiment of love and appreciation. While this is joyous news for economically battered merchants, it is hardly the intent of Anna Jarvis, founder and trademark holder of the term “Mother’s Day.”
On the second anniversary of her mother’s death in 1905, Anna Jarvis held a small memorial service and embarked on a seven-year campaign to have the second Sunday in May officially recognized as a holiday to honor our mothers. Her work was rewarded in 1914 as President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation to officially establish Mother’s Day as a national holiday.
As the celebration of Mother’s Day increased in popularity, Jarvis’ disappointment in its commercial success caused her to complain bitterly and wish that she had never sought the designation. She was quoted as saying: “A printed card means nothing except that you are too lazy to write to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world. And candy! You take a box to Mother — and then eat most of it yourself. A pretty sentiment.”
Jarvis was even critical of how some chose to spell the name of the holiday, moving the apostrophe to the other side of the “s” to designate all mothers and not just one.
We have to admit that Anna Jarvis’ narrow view of Mother’s Day and disdain for how people choose to celebrate seems out of step today. Blended families, adoption, foster parents and other more complicated connections have served to broaden the definition of mother and encompass a wide range of highly personal relationships.
The greeting card industry understands this and offers an extensive array of cards to fit nearly every circumstance including “like a mother to me” as well as cards for single fathers, sisters, aunts, grandmothers, step relations and even cards for pets to present to their “mommies.”
Regardless of the nature of the relationship honored, any holiday that pumps over $16 billion into the economy seems worthy of celebration.
Taking time to appreciate the motherly influence in your life is important, but trust us, most moms would agree with Anna Jarvis, it isn’t about the money you spend it’s about the message of love behind it.
