Come May, everybody is talking about Mother’s Day. One day of the year when you get to celebrate your mother. A day when mothers across the world are pampered and honoured. You’re looking for the best gifts for your mother, trying to do everything to make your mother happy. Basically, it’s a happy time for everyone. But is it a really happy time for the mothers? Take a break from all the celebrations and ask yourself these questions this Mother’s Day. If you truly want to make a difference in a mother’s life, introspect deeply.

Why is Mother’s Day celebrated?

While Mother’s Day has its earliest origins in ancient Greece and Rome, the modern Mother’s Day comes largely from the US. The ancient Greeks celebrated goddess Rhea, who is considered to be the mother of all gods, during their spring festival. Rhea had close associations with Cybele, a mother goddess honoured by the Romans.

The modern Mother’s Day that we celebrate today is all thanks to the efforts of an American woman, Anna Jarvis. Jarvis, in the year 1908, held a memorial for her mother at St. Andrews Methodist Church. The church now holds the International Mother’s Day Shrine. Jarvis campaigned to make Mother’s Day a recognised holiday to honour the sacrifices of all mothers. Mother’s Day was never meant to be a commercialised holiday. But is a mother’s sacrifice something to be celebrated or something to be thought about?

Questions to ask yourself this Mother’s Day

1. Do you really not take your mother for granted?

For 364 days of the year, she is supposed to cook and clean for you and take care of you and your family. More often than not, you will just take all of this as part of her ‘job’ and expect her to do it all without any complaints. Come Mother’s Day, there’s all this hullabaloo about making your mother breakfast in bed, buying her flowers, or giving her a break from the kitchen. What really is the point of doing this for one day when, for the rest of the year, you easily take your mother for granted?

2. Do you treat your mother with respect?

Ask yourself if you treat your mother with respect. Or are you one to bark orders and treat your mother like a personal maid? Is your mother supposed to wake you up in the morning, feed you meals, pick up after you or do your laundry, because it’s her “job”? If you are someone who believes that, sorry to say, but you don’t really treat her like a mother. A mother doesn’t do these things because she is obligated to do them, rather because she wants to make your life easier.

3. Do all mothers deserve to be celebrated?

Lucky are those who have mothers who love and support them unconditionally. While a lot of people are blessed with good mothers, there are some who are not so lucky. Frankly, certain people don’t deserve to be parents with the way they treat their kids. Certain mothers are physically and emotionally abusive. Then there are others who treat their kids as trophies and not human beings. And there are some who just want to live off their children’s money and treat them like they are the scum of the earth. Do these mothers, who have no iota of love for their kids, deserve to be celebrated?

4. Is Mother’s Day really inclusive?

While not all mothers deserve to be celebrated, are the ones who deserve our appreciation celebrated? What about the mother who lost her child? Or how about the woman who desperately wants to be a mother, but she can’t? What about the people who have lost their mothers or who never had one? Do they get to celebrate the day? What do you think about pet parents?

5. Do women need to be mothers to be complete?

Mother’s Day is another day that plays into the whole idea of how women need to become mothers to be complete. A woman’s life is successful only if she becomes a mother. The day again propogates that women need to marry and have kids and settle down in life to be truly happy.

Something to think about today, isn’t it?

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