Dear Editor,
Mother’s Day is this Sunday when children will give females “a time of their life” – a day off from work, flowers, breakfasts in bed, brunch, gifts, etc. Children’s gratitude and affection for their mothers is concentrated on this special day to alleviate a feeling of guilt for neglecting her for the other days of the year. Lavish praises will be showered on mothers for their sacrifices, hard work, and love to raise their children and for helping to feed, clothe, educate and make us what (who) we are today. But is it enough? Can the neglect of parents the entire year make up for it on one day. Shouldn’t every day be Mother’s Day.
Being a mother is a difficult task, but mothers persevere and do a fantastic job. Mothers consider it an unending obligation to tend to their children’s needs and they do not fail to meet expectations. They think about children perennially, not just for one day. Only mothers know the pain of bringing forth a child in the world. They nurse their children and exercise patience and caution in raising them. As is well known, they are the first to wake up in the morning and the last to go to bed making every effort to meet the needs of children – giving them that cell phone or some other gadget and sending them to school with lunch box and money even when they can’t afford it. They feed their kids before they eat. Their work is never finished. And yet they are not always appreciated for their sacrifices and responsibilities. Worse, the endearment children have in the Caribbean for relatives and elders disappear in NYC.
I note that in New York and other cities in North America, Guyanese families face many challenges of raising children in an alien cultural environment. The youths tend to lose aspects of their cultural upbringing of respect for elders, copying values in conflict with their heritage that tend to destroy the foundation of a tight knit family life. The strong endearment and kinship respect (aunty, uncle, mousie, mousa, dada, didi, etc) children have in Guyana or Trinidad for relatives and elders tend to disappear in NYC. Youngsters must be encouraged to reject the negative aspects of life (especially in NYC) and strive for family togetherness and respect for elders and cultural retention.It cannot be over stressed that while their contributions to society are highly valued, women are also role models.
Thus, they must engage in respectable behavior conducting themselves properly because children take their cues from them. The children often emulate adults modeling their lives after their parents or elder folks. Thus, it is imperative that mothers live a moral, reputable life serving as ideal role models. They must be Durga, Latchmee, Sita, Radha, Urmilla, and other Goddesses. They must live a pure, respectable clean life that will make children proud.And kids should behave the same everyday as Mother’s Day – respect and honor females. Happy Mothers Day!
Yours truly,
Vishnu Bisram
