Mother's Day marks an awkward time of year for those on the hard left.
First, there are those who deny the value of motherhood. Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood tweeted, "Nothing says 'I love you, Mom!' like standing up for the right of mothers everywhere to get the care they need." By this, presumably, she meant abortion care -- Planned Parenthood performs hundreds of thousands of abortions every year. But there is one thing that says "I love you, Mom!" more than providing abortion care: babies who aren't aborted. It turns out that in order for the appellation mother to have any meaning, children must be part of the process.
Then there are those who believe that childbearing and child rearing aren't central to the female mission, that checking accounts receivable is more socially and individually rewarding. In this category we could put Ivanka Trump, who tweeted about the "wage gap" on Mother's Day, even though the only true reason for the difference in overall earnings between men and women is attributable to motherhood. It turns out that it may be worth families forgoing mom doing extra work at the office if she can spend more time at home with the kids. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, it's worth celebrating.
But the fun -- or lack thereof -- doesn't stop there for the radical left. We still haven't dealt with the cisgender nature of Mother's Day. How could we suggest that women have anything special to celebrate when men can be women? After all, Dove has run an ad with a transgender woman explaining what motherhood means to her. A columnist for the Toronto Star, Emma Teitel, wrote this week that Mother's Day should be ditched in favor of Guardian's Day, since "gendered holidays" are "painful" and "exclusionary" and a "drag for non-binary parents who don't identify with a single gender." Teitel says, "A guardian can be a mom, a dad, a non-binary parent, a grandparent, an aunt, an uncle, a pet owner, or why the heck not -- somebody who takes really good care of his houseplants."
But we're still not done. How about gay couples? What about children with two daddies? One Canadian school has reportedly ditched Mother's Day and Father's Day activities because they are not sufficiently inclusive. The administration announced via letter, "In an effort to celebrate diversity, inclusivity and also nurture our students who are part of non-traditional families, we have decided to encourage those celebrations to take place at home."
So, we've already done away with apple pie -- far too much sugar for those growing children -- and now we're doing away with motherhood. Do we have any values in common anymore?
Fortunately, most Americans reject this stupidity. Mothers are still mothers, and motherhood still has inherent and beautiful value. My wife is a doctor, which means she does the most important work there is, but she believes that her most important role is as a mother to our two children. She's right. It's amazing that our society has become so jaded about the value of motherhood that we're willing to overthrow it in favor of gender and sexual sensitivity, as well as increasing women's hours in the workplace.
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