Tuesday, August 31, 2004

What Would Your Mother Say?!

There's an idea that's been coming at me from every direction lately, something I can't put down and I need to articulate, but it's a really tough one.

It will change the world, but that just sounds so big and ominous, so I keep resisting it. It's about mothers and how angry they can get when crossed. It's about harnessing that rage as a political force. I think it is an amazing force. It need not be partisan or claimed by one side or the other, this is too big a problem to let that kind of bickering enter in.

We've all read about the mother lioness who will turn absolutely wildly dangerous when her cubs are at risk. As a mother, and as a mother living in a time of terror, I really understand that.

I've seen mothers command the fiercest men with one quick glance of their maternal gaze. I've seen Mother Theresa's incredible outpouring of empathetic maternal energy -- it can melt the world, level differences, show a path that might end war.

I really know this force deep down inside me, but I don't know yet how to explain what we can do with it.

It can do many things to make this world better and safe. First it needs to be pointed towards women in countries where terrorism is bred. The girls, women and mothers of those countries need to come out from under burkhas and have mothers from our side of the world educate them, teach them to read, teach them how to use birth control, teach them to be powerful and show them how to raise decent male children.

I've been reading on the web to see if anyone is discussing this incredible source of energy -- mothers' rage -- others are saying it, have said, are kindof saying, are grasping it, are reaching out into thin air trying to express it.

I'm even so crazy as to be digging and exploring and really trying to find hard data and figures and facts to support it.

I may just have to say it. But if I say it the wrong way, it will go nowhere. I need to think about getting it right. I need to say it just right. I'm working on it.