When I was about 6 years old, I remember my mom was watching the news and a story came on about a mother who gave her child one of her kidneys. I asked my mom, “What if I needed a kidney?” I knew what she would say.
“I would give you one of mine, of course!” My wheels were still turning…
“What if I needed a new heart?” Being an inquisitive child, I was trying to stump my mom. She didn’t hesitate and replied back, “I would give you my heart.”
I looked at her and replied, “But you can’t live without your heart! You only have one!” She looked back at me knowingly.
“Yes, I know, and I would still give you my heart.”
As a child, it summed up, in a few words, the comfort and security my mom and dad gave me with their words and actions throughout my childhood. Now, a mother myself, I realize my own mother’s views are not unique. The love of a mother goes beyond what we as humans have come to know as rational thinking. I think the more Western society starts realizing this, the more respect mothers will have for one another. Next time you see a mother you don’t know at the park, in the grocery store, or anywhere else out in public and that culturally ingrained reflex to judge starts rearing it’s ugly head, remember: that mother would give any one of her children her heart without a hesitation…. Now, do you still want to judge her?
