Mother’s Day

“A mother’s love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no pity. It dares all things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.” – Agatha Christie

On this Mother’s Day, I am thankful for my own mother, Roberta Kelley, who along with her twin brother Robert, are the 8th and 9th born from a large family of 10 children in Chester, PA.  She along with my father Essex, raised my siblings and I with discipline, independence, caring and respect with the proper balance of love. But the special gift that I received from my mother was courage and strength. My mother taught me that when facing adversity, to push forward despite my fears. She made me brave and that influenced the manner in which I reared my two children.

Despite the strength from my Mom, I oftentimes felt apprehension while caring for my own children. I believe all mothers have a sense of this. But whether you’re a mother or one who has helped raise, influence or loved a child, you hopefully have cherished memories – even an inner peace – of knowing that you did your best.

On this Mother’s Day, I have many mixed feelings. Our country is suffering through the inhumane policies of the current administration, and the most egregious one has been separating families along our southern border. There, families have been traumatized and literally ripped apart from each other.

We’ve seen the terrified faces of young children as they have been placed in cages while parents were either prosecuted, held in federal jails or sometimes deported without their children. News reports indicate that some children may likely never be reunited with their parents. Unfortunately, the negative impact to the children will be lifelong.

As Fayette Democrats we are unable to stretch our arms long enough to embrace those children and families at the border, but we can work to improve our local community.

This month, FCDC will be supporting the mission of a local charity called ‘Promise Place’. Promise Place seeks to prevent domestic violence and sexual assault among women, teenage girls and their families.

While you’re honoring your mother this Mother’s Day as I will, let’s take a moment to honor the mothers supported by Promise Place. By doing this, we strengthen our community.

We have placed the list of needed items on our website: www.gafayettedems.org where you can click on the ‘Promise Place Wish List’ link. All items will be collected at the next Pancakes & Politics meeting on May 11th or can be dropped off at FCDC Headquarters no later than Saturday, May 18th. Thank you so much in advance for your donation and have a wonderful and Happy Mother’s Day!

Carolyn

Chair, Fayette Democratic Committee

Right Wing, Left Wing, Chicken Wing

Sometime around 1940, when Woody Guthrie wrote This Land is Your Land, his critics called him a “socialist” and a “communist” because his songs argued for a government that went to bat for the working man.

A government that kept the rich and powerful from gobbling up those in America who do the work of America.

“Left wing, right wing, chicken wing – it’s all the same to me,” Woody said.

Of all the shameful and degrading language from our federal executive branch during the recent shutdown, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, said to be worth $700 million, contributed this: He said he didn’t “understand” why federal workers, who are doing their jobs without pay, don’t “take out loans” until the shutdown is over.

Greed and bigotry help build America. It gave us centuries of African enslavement, efforts of genocide directed toward native cultures, child labor, and more recently big tax cuts for Ross and others like him.

I suspect Ross, the current occupant of the White House, and some commentators at Fox would gladly share some chicken wings with poor and working-class Americans – once they’ve eaten all the meat from the bones. 

About the time Woody said what he said about chicken wings, Franklin Roosevelt was in his second term in the White House. Among the laws he signed to help those Woody sang about were Social Security, minimum wage, and the recognition of labor unions.

FDR said he “welcomed their hatred” in reference to those who called him a socialist and communists for trying to help families who did the work of America. I can see FDR now looking up from his wheelchair and staring down the arrogant Ross and others like him. He’d probably like to punch him in the nose.

If you want to do something to help families, FDR once said, you’ll have to fight harder than those working to hurt them.

There may well be a reckoning in this country in a couple of years if the Democrats keep the House and take back the Senate and the White House. We will want to wash away the stain of what has happened to us during the last couple of years. Rebirth and renewal.   

Left wing, right wing, chicken wing.

Author: Bill Lightle