Support global peace on Mother’s Day

“Arise, all women who have hearts! …

Our husbands will not come to us, reeking of carnage …

Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn

All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience …

We, the women of one country,

Will be too tender of those of another country

To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs…

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with

Our own. It says ‘Disarm! Disarm!’ “

—- Julia Ward Howe

On Mother’s Day, I look forward to the flowers and chocolates, and hugs and kisses from my three children. When they were younger, we enjoyed the tradition of a Mother’s Day picnic breakfast in a nearby park complete with ball play, swinging, sliding and, I’m sorry to say, a few whopper arguments. As their mom, I worked hard to restore peace in the family. As my children have grown and are now almost out of the nest, I find myself still working for peace, but in a different way.

In this time of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and conflicts elsewhere in the world, I and other women are going back to the true origins of our Mother’s Day holiday: as a call to end all wars.

During the Civil War, poet Julia Ward Howe was asked to write inspiring verses to lift the spirits of the Union forces. But when she was taken to observe a battlefield in northern Virginia, she was so appalled at the carnage, the number of deaths, the number of maimed soldiers, that she began a lifelong quest for peace. She came to believe that women were the ones who would carry the flag of peace in the United States and around the world.

Howe produced the poem she was asked to write, which was later sold to Atlantic Monthly for $5 and published as The Battle Hymn of the Republic. But a short time later Howe wrote a peace proclamation calling for an assembly of women to end all wars. She also began working for a national day to be set aside as a Mother’s Day for Peace. The day was observed in early June for about 30 years in the late 1800s.

Then, in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson declared the second Sunday in May to be Mother’s Day as a way to honor mothers who had lost sons in war. It quickly became a commercial success, but the peaceable beginnings of this holiday were lost. The message of peace resonates deeply with many women for a very sad reason: They are so frequently the innocent victims of wars.

Worldwide, women and children account for almost 80 percent of the casualties of wars as well as most of the 40 million war refugees. Women and girls also are often the victims of sexual abuse during conflicts. And if women are not killed, raped or rendered homeless by war, it is likely that the men in their lives will be maimed or killed.

The human cost of war is foremost and horrendous. But the monetary cost is not insignificant. In the United States about 54 percent of all discretionary federal dollars goes to the Pentagon in the 2009 budget, or $541 billion.

This does not include the $170 billion in the same period for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Globally, countries that have crushing poverty, crumbling infrastructure and fragile economies are pouring money into weapons and conflicts.

Julia Ward Howe is only one of many women who have realized the horrors of war and have spoken passionately for peace.

Today, women have been among the first to raise strong voices opposing war.

California Rep. Barbara Lee was the only member of Congress with the courage to vote against military action toward terrorists immediately after 9/11. Noted author and Georgia native Alice Walker has written passionately that “war is not the answer.”

And there are others: mothers who have lost children to the war in Iraq; Atlanta Grandmothers for Peace who tell Army recruiters, “Take us instead.”

In Liberia, women were the driving force behind a peace settlement and then helped spur the election of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first woman president in all of Africa. In Kenya, women recently went on a weeklong sex strike to protest tribal wars.

Celebrating Mother’s Day for Peace connects me to the true origins of the holiday. It is a time to mourn the victims of wars and remember the heroism and courage of women who work for peace. My eyes may become blurred with tears as I receive warm hugs and gifts of roses and chocolate from my three wonderful children, but one thing I see clearly: We women of the world must stand firm against the abuses and horrors of war.

Julia Ward Howe knew this in 1870, and still today women say no to war and armed conflict.

During this Mother’s Day season, we celebrate our passion to take action to lead the world to peace.

Krista Brewer is president of the Georgia Women’s Action for New Directions.