By Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D., Kansas City, MO –

A tribute to mothers across race, culture and ethnicity is a celebration that we hold in common irrespective of country, age, gender, socio-economic status. This one celebration in May, among many, is held in common in many places across the world.

There are holiday parties in early May, from May Day to Cinco De Mayo, school graduations at every level to Memorial Day that ends the month of May. But a tribute to mothers holds a special place, a universal expression of love and appreciation.

Dare I propose that because the job of motherhood never ends for people who actually take the duty seriously, that appreciating and honoring motherhood should be a continuous affair?

Motherhood has been and is one of the toughest jobs on earth. And today, with all the forces tugging at both children and mothers, in many respects the occupation is more demanding. A tribute to mothers can occur often and for many reasons.

Mothers of different races and ethnic groups expect to have a realistic possibility of nurturing another human being into one with great values, an excellent awareness of self, compassion, and concern for one’s neighbor, one’s community, and the betterment of mankind, along with facing some threatening challenges from infancy to young adulthood. So frequently, where there exists good conditions and great options for children, there are just as many negative ones.

A Tribute To Mothers

Bad and great influences exist on the playgrounds and are brought into your family room with TV and the Internet, in higher degrees of use and multiple doses. Mothers worry about untimely exposure to things like sex and drugs. In addition, there is the specter of guns, abductions, and other acts of wanton violence perpetrated by crazed adults and children alike that cannot be discounted.

A Tribute To Mothers

One is compelled to ask, what are we doing as a society to support motherhood? Support means more than making sure kids are fed, clothed, and housed. What responsibility do we share to do things that strengthen, expose and cultivate good values in children, strong work ethics, and regard for one’s community, another individual, and the sanctity of human life?

There are people who truly believe that governmental policies and communities are extended families, but don’t have any major role in helping a mother nurture future leaders and ordinary citizens.

A Tribute To Mothers

Mother’s Day is among the most observed across the world as it should be. It is still among the oldest and best professions.

There’s a lot to the old adage, Your mother will be there for you regardless of what happens. And usually mothers are unless there are some extenuating circumstances, like extreme drug or alcohol addiction, physical or mental illness, or, too commonly, misplaced priorities.

But mothers, those who accept the role or choose the function thrust upon them, carry the weight of being the adhesive that keeps it all together, whether it is a hybrid, a conventional family, or extended family.

Including motherhood among professions is only fitting. Let us appreciate older mothers, young mothers, those mothers in between, and those no longer with us. Moms throughout the world and across all racial, ethnic, and cultural spectrum deserve to be honored and respected. Let us hail a tribute to mothers.

Motherhood cannot be successful alone. Our mothers and grandmothers understood that whether they were Hispanic, black, white, Asian, or otherwise. Many mother shared the responsibility in rearing not only their kids but others. Support and admiration for the job of rearing children abounded, although they did it during times when they did not have the benefits of technology.

Luckily, now, many mothers still conform and practice the beliefs of these mothers and grandmothers that it takes a village, a community to raise a child.

As a society, we must be willing to help mothers, all mothers across race and ethnicity, to be great mothers. In the end, mothers have the first chance to shape those who’ll shape our society, as time goes on, in their own hands.

What more critical and defining function is there? Let us always pay a tribute to our mothers.

Feature photo credit: ahhhpoetry.wordpress.com