Mother’s Day: More than a Hallmark holiday this year

by Melissa Thompson

May 9, 2014

If you told me three years ago that I’d be writing a Mother’s Day blog, I would have said “no way.” My own mother, principled dissident that she is, always scoffed at celebrating mother’s day, calling it a “Hallmark holiday.”

Three years later, days after my daughter’s second birthday, I’m couldn’t be more honored. She’s a ham for the camera, obviously…

During her first talk with Greenpeace staff last week, our new Executive Director Annie Leonard said that when you become a parent, you grow a whole other appendage to your brain – one that thinks about nothing else but your kids. Caring for them. Protecting them. And part of that of that protecting means trying to leave them with a world that is safe, in all ways.

Part of my ambivalence about becoming a parent was that I would not be able to make this promise. I am frightened by how unsafe the world is, especially for women. I am scared that the pristine places I hold so dear (the North Carolina mountains, the swimming holes, the endless woods) will be spoiled before my daughter gets to be my age. I feel guilty about the world she’s getting from me.

Thisvideomakes me feel better than ever about my choice to become a mom. These great women, all connected to the Solarize Charlotte project, give me a shot of inspiration – that it’s not too late to do right by our kids. It’s going to take tremendous work. But I’ve never met a mom who’s not up to the task.

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