Lets start with one of the few incontrovertible facts that we have on earth. Every single person on this planet has a mother and a father. In the modern era there are many more computations than in the past. Some people may never know their biological mother (if it is a donor egg) or father (if there was donor sperm).
People, other than the biological parents, can raise children. This can be due to the failure of the biological parents or a host other reasons. These people often do an excellent job of parenting. Sometimes better than the biological ones would have done. Some children live in a variety of arrangements, which are not the “traditional family”. And yes some people are estranged from one or both parents.
I may not have covered every possible permutation but you get the general idea. No matter how many variations there are, nothing changes the fact that each person has a mother. Once a year this is recognsied on Mothers Day, which we celebrated in Australia yesterday. Whilst one might hope that the wonderful role of motherhood is celebrated daily, in reality this may not always occur.
So with this in mind you would think that objections to mother’s day would be hard to raise. But in this crazy PC world we live in, schools in Melbourne and in Mission (British Columbia Canada) did just that. Both schools sought to ban mother’s day stalls. The Melbourne school overturned this after an objection from a senior politician.
The official reason for stopping children from buying presents for their mothers was that it is not “inclusive” enough. Presumably the same line will be trotted out at father’s day.
Yes, some children do not live with their mothers for a variety of reasons. And some may not seek to buy gifts at a stall. However each and every person has a mother! How can you be any more inclusive than that?
Recognizing the role of mothers does not detract from the role of fathers, friend’s siblings, grandparents or anyone else. This is the critical point. The recognition of one thing does not exclude anyone else. We are capable of walking and chewing gum.
How on earth does recognizing the role of mothers diminish the role of anyone else? How does having a stall to let children make and buy gifts for their mother (biological or not) create a problem? Sure, some children may have lost their mothers. This is necessarily sad but having a stall is hardly the only thing that would remind them of this. And sad as that is, we all have to contend with what life deals us. Interestingly the original Mothers Day was intended as a day to remember the mother of Anna Jarvis; Ann, who died in May 1905.
Relationships are a pillar of health and the relationship we have with parents (for better or worse) are the first ones all of us have. No amount of political correctness changes our genetics. We are literally tied via the umbilical cord to our mothers till we are born. This biological fact is not changed by political correctness, gender fluidity studies, or identity politics.
I have written previously about the attempts to silence free speech and make everyone conform to some PC thought police way of thinking. This is the mentality we see in the efforts to cancel mothers day. It is the same mentality that tells us to say happy holidays instead of Merry Christmas (there would be no holiday if Christ hadn’t been born).
This mentality, which in true Orwellian style, seeks to deny obvious truth by using weasel words is wrong. I hope all the mums out there had a great day.
Medical Doctor, author, speaker, media presenter and health industry consultant, Dr Joe Kosterich wants you to be healthy and get the most out of life.
Joe writes for numerous medical and mainstream publications, is clinical editor at Medical Forum Magazine, and is also a regular on radio and television.
Joe is Medical Advisor to Medicinal Cannabis Company Little Green Pharma, Chairman of Australian Tobacco Harm Reduction Association and sits on the board of Arthritis and Osteoporosis WA. He is often called to give opinions in medico legal cases.
He has self-published two books: Dr Joe’s DIY Health and 60 Minutes To Better Health.
In 2024 due to public demand he commenced a podcast, Dr Joe Unplugged, which can be accessed via Spotify, Apple or YouTube.
Through all this he continues to see patients as a GP each week.
