Friday, May 08, 2009

MOMS - THE Party of No

Sunday is Mothers Day, an annual day of honor and celebration for Moms. If you’re fortunate enough to have a Mom who is still living; spend time in her presence or on the phone with her, send her a card, do something nice for her; tell her you love her; let her know you recognize she has been given a God assigned role and she works hard at being Mom. She is very important to your life and well being. Say a prayer of thankfulness for your Mom. She loves you. She is a blessing; she counts, count her.

Moms wear many hats; some fit better than others. Moms are compassionate, caring and connected to feelings. Moms just ‘know’ when you’re in trouble or headed that way. They know the signs. Moms also say no, regularly. Moms mentor, teach and explain. Moms say no, regularly. Moms ask you if your friends wanted to jump off a bridge would you join them, just because ‘everyone’ else is doing it. Aggravating, yes; cliché, yes, but necessary. Moms say no, regularly. Sometimes it’s so sweet you don’t realize it was ‘a negatory’, but Moms say no, regularly. Sometimes it is discipline and privileges are taken away from you so that you will remember essential lessons. Moms say no, regularly.

Moms seek to protect your best interests. Moms want you to thrive and succeed, even though you question her definitions at times. Moms would love to be able to say yes dear, you can have anything you want, and suffer no consequences for your decisions. Moms don’t want you to get hurt, so Moms say no. All this so that one day you’ll know how to say no to yourself and to your children; when you don’t have the money to spend; you can’t afford to buy the fancy car; you can’t afford to pay the mortgage and living expenses on that big showy house; or you don’t have enough hours in the day to do all the things you want to do and still be a good Mom or Dad. Moms say no, regularly. Moms would rather you didn’t have to make all the mistakes they made in their life; so, Moms say no, regularly.

Moms are not perfect but Moms say no, regularly.

We live in a challenging political time. We hear people and parties criticized for wanting to talk about it, say ‘wait a minute’ or saying no way, no how. Do we hear ourselves? We have a whole ‘list’ of things we want to do, that others have kept us from doing, and now no one can stop us, so we are going to do whatever we want. We don’t have the money but are sure we can ‘take’ whatever money we need to pay for what we ‘want’ from someone else.

Moms call that stealing.

Everyone is doing it; this is the way that it’s done; don’t rain on our parade; we ‘will’ do what ‘we’ want and you can’t stop us. We will lie; we will cheat; we will say whatever we want about whomever we want, after all, it’s just the news, it’s just politics.

Make your Momma proud; BE the party of NO. Someone needs to be. Love you Mom!