Mothers Day Commercialised Madness
Mothering Sunday is supposed to be about making mothers feel valued and appreciated. Unfortunately it has become well and truly overtaken by rampant consumerism that encourages people to measure the affection and appreciation they hold for their mothers by means of the gifts and cards that they give.
Mothers day, or Mothering Sunday, is believed to have originated in pre-christian days when, traditionally, mothers would be reunited with their offspring who might be released from their work in order to visit their families. The modern Mothers day, involving gifts of flowers and chocolates, was actually started in the United States by Anna Jarvis.
Her idea was for families to get together in church to give thanks and to recognise the value of motherhood. President Woodrow Wilson officially dedicated a specific day as Mothers day in 1914 but within only a few years commercialisation had taken over. Ms Jarvis was horrified by this development and set about trying to undo the over-commercialisation that she felt had taken place. Her attempts were to cost her dearly as she and her sister Ellsinore spent their entire family inheritance trying to regain ownership of the day. Ultimately she died in poverty in 1948 and mothers day has gone on to become the huge advertising and gift buying extravaganza that we have today.
It’s about time that we got back to the basics and the spirit of Mothers Day as it used to be. By all means buy gifts for mothers day, but do so with some thought and not because you feel you have to. Why not make a card, rather than buy one, and spend a few minutes writing something that is personal and genuine that your mother will appreciate much more than a mass produced card. Most importantly, make certain that your mother knows that all the work that she has done is appreciated and that she is dearly loved. And then make sure she gets plenty of chocolates…
Written by Dr_Bob on February 19th, 2008 with
no comments.
Do you agree with
Dr_Bob? Do you hate the diatribe on MrCrip? Who cares? Read more
Save the UK.
