Today, on this Mother's Day,
We collectively celebrate those who raised us, sacrificed for us, and laid down their lives for us,
Who have birthed us, or taken us in, who have provided protection or comfort, by
biology or not,
While simultaneously having society demonize us, to tell us we must work harder, our want
of a day off is selfish.
We must work out of the house, yet take bathroom breaks interrupted at home,
While being told there is no wage gap when our paychecks reflect otherwise,
Balancing our children and their goals, our goals, our lives,
Ensuring their well-being and health, mental and physical,
Protecting them from the assailants who will attack them as they do us,
While our country, The Great United States, explains to us how the family unit is flailing,
Threatened and violated,
While we, those mothers and mother figures,
Are violated daily, unsupported regularly,
Harassed and assaulted,
Expected to bond with our children more,
But to do so in only 6 weeks,
Or unable to adopt children who are in need because of who we love,
And endless love is often all we have to give.
Yet somehow, we are the cause of the floundering family.
Those who nurture the children, the mothers and mother figures,
Are shot because they do not conform, and do not have the anatomy society expects them to possess.
The mother and mother figures,
Who have jobs, traditional or otherwise, all who sell their labor for some sort of shelter,
Are slandered and intimidated for not complying with an oppressive system.
Today is to celebrate those mothers and mother figures,
Who are told to accept the sexual advances,
Or who are told they're lying when they speak up,
While also being told they must vocalize their experiences more to be heard,
Believed,
But then, not.
Because their value is non-existent in a world that believes,
That the blood our body expels deems us inappropriate,
Or the bodies we were born with that do not match our identity is untrue, and somehow,
Justifies the strikes against us.
Or the color of our skin warrants the disgusting and vicious charges against our being, and existence, for not upholding the status quo.
This Mother's Day,
We pretend to celebrate the mothers and mother figures,
Who have sacrificed for us, and nurtured us, who have done all they can to protect us,
When we fail to protect the mothers who have done so for us,
The people we pretend to value and uphold,
On a pedestal that is destined to be destroyed.
Today, on this Mother's Day,
We must begin to speak up and fight,
Fight for the rights of those who have cared for us,
And have fought for us,
Against a system not designed for us.
In solidarity we must act and work together,
To change and transform each other, the world,
No longer feigning celebration,
Merely a mask for conformity, oppression, and hatred,
But working toward liberation for all.
For we will all stumble without it.
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