Unconditional

I can think of no better way to celebrate this day than to speak about respect. Respect,  a deep feeling of admiration based on someone’s qualities and/or abilities. There aren’t many people in my world who have won my respect, but the ones that have are monumental. I often wonder why so many people miss the mark. To me, culture has been defamiliarizing and dismantling traditional family values to the point where society has disrespected the very thing that serves as our primary socialization agent, and center for respect itself, the family; more specifically Motherhood. No wonder; fleeting feelings of any true admiration exist, motherly duties denigrated and parental authority questioned, as families come under fire, and media flaunting the care-free consequent-less loose living and idiotic parenting adds still more fuel. When culturally respect is hatched falsely in popularized idols, and celebrity-ism running rampant. This tidal movement of veneered icons waxing and waning from popularity as quick as it takes to boil an egg, beat and scramble the very strands which attempts to hold us all together, the family. A cultural framework of collapsing foam which is easily supplanted by the next coruscation, social sciences have yet to replace the efficacy of the nuclear family with anything close nor acceptable. It is no wonder we have a hard time gaining any real respect for anyone, or for any prolonged period of time. Yet, there is one entity that throughout time does deserve unwavering respect, Mom.

If one wishes to witness the microcosm of the health of a civilization, one needs look no further than the health and respect given to its mothers, and conversely the capacity towards which a mother is enabled to complete her sacred obligations of progenitor nurturing. Cultural decay and lax moral codes throughout history have lent credence to the falls of powerful civilizations; Babylon, Rome,  Greece, Han Dynasty, The Third Reich, Russia have succumbed from the initialization of de-emphasising traditional family codes, morality, self-control and maternal importance, leading to an infirmed society and its extinction.

You want a great civilization, you need to start of on a great foundation; and that foundation is great families, and the foundation of that is a great mom.

I love eggs. As a Chef I can’t think of a more versatile, essential, cost efficient, complete protein source, delicately durable, ever humbling, litmus test to skill and finesse, food than EGGS. I love ‘em. But my mom...not so much. Growing up I ate dozens a week; fried, sunny side, omelets, poached, frittatas, you name it...I loved it. And unbenounced to me for many a year, my mom hated, I mean HATED cooking them. The sight of a raw egg would turn her stomach. It might have something to do with my grandmother prescribing a diet of raw eggs for my mother at an early age. Yet, there they were, faithfully every day on my breakfast plate, the food I loved, eggs. Never a complaint, never a poor execution; I never knew her dismay only her devotion.

Great comes not in great deeds but in deeds done great. Sure they were just eggs, but how they were accomplished selflessly was greatness incarnate. Analogous to motherhood itself, ironically found in an egg prepared faithfully for a young child. A mom ungrudgingly accepts all these badges attached to her commission, the pains, veins, marks, bites, arguing, eventual separation and an empty nest, and yes, nurturing even when it makes her ill. What does she expect in return? Most often, nothing. What does she deserve in return? Respect. Someone who literally created you and brought you into existence, nurtured you, disciplined you and loved you enough to let you go and be your own being. The cornerstone of the family, the foundation of society, the primary socializer, the one who teaches us of nourishing love, how to honor authority, Moms success incubates acceptable executors of sound moral culture. Of all things that demand respect in our existence, it is this figure. So to all the Mom’s out there, Happy Mother’s day.

With respect,

A son