Who doesn’t love her or his mother?
Sure, she may paint your boy toenails neon pink (your favorite color), photograph and feature you enjoying said lacquered nails in her company’s advertising campaign and let Americans make you a five-year-old poster child for the public debate on gender mores – yet you love her anyway. But what about the grand dame of all mothers? All she’s ever done is provide you the very air you breathe and the ground you walk on (with an occasional outburst of destructive behavior, yes, true – but can you throw the first stone?) yet we remain self-absorbed brats who treat the earth like she’ll always be here for us no matter how many times we drill ghastly holes in the ocean floor or leave our dirty carbon footprints all over the house. Her house. Our house. Recently I watched the incredible footage from the Hubble telescope tumbling around the universe – you know, that kinda big non-people populated area that surrounds us, out there, somewhere – taking photographs of birthing planets, toddler galaxies and collapsing stars. Talk about taking some space to get a new perspective. Everyone and their beloved mother should see these literally stellar images and reflect for a moment or two on the fact that Earth is the only place as far as our humble Hubble can see – an impressive several billion light years deep – that supports life. That serendipitously generated a breathable oxygen-rich atmosphere. That is just the perfect distance from its closest star to bestow vital life-sustaining energy and summers in Paris. You don’t have to be living on the moon or without shoes in Topanga Canyon to appreciate the planet. What’s not to love? So please, grace our shared, precious Earth with your heart-felt and mindful appreciation every single day – not just one arbitrary day during the year – and learn what each and every one of us can personally do to protect and preserve this highly-unique place that we inhabit. Like all mothers, she’ll so appreciate the effort. I know I do.
© Jennifer Dowd
thelemoncake.com 