We Are All Mothers

We are all mothers in some shape or form, because we are women.
Not every mother has a child, but every child has a mother.
A teacher, a coach, a nurse, a supervisor, a friend.
The mothers in our lives are masters at the gift of giving.
But as a mother and as a woman, I am familiar with this cycle of giving,
The cycle that leaves us with little but the satisfaction of knowing we gave to others,
But as mothers, we feel that satisfaction is more than enough.

The acts that are expected of mothers are the kindest and most selfless.
The gratitude that mothers receive is not.
Still, we continue to prepare nourishment, wash mistakes off our loved ones' clothes,
Bathe the young, work for a less valuable dollar, but never ask for more, like those who are not mothers do.
The expectations are heavy responsibilities,
But we fulfill them because we know the weight of these responsibilities,
And we would never wish this weight upon anyone else,
So we do it ourselves and expect nothing in return,
Not because nothing is generally what we would receive (either way),
But because knowing relieving our kin from this burden is the best reward we could receive.

Although I do not have a child, nor do I feel the desire to carry one,
I still feel the fire that ignites the flame of motherhood.
The most heartbreaking thing that I have come to realize as my mother's child,
Is that no matter how much I do for my mother, how many times I call her, how often I think of her or how much I claim to love her,
The love that my mother has for me could never be matched by anything in this universe.
The combination of this ceaseless struggle and the perpetual will to give is the meaning of motherhood.

The current mission that we should all seek to complete is the perpetual opportunity to give as our mothers have given to us.
Because no matter how persistently we try, we cannot give to our mothers the way they have given.
What they have taught us is how we can all be mothers and care for others the way that they have cared for us.
Being a mother can be a thankless job, however this frustration, as we have learned from our own mothers, pales in comparison to the amount of love we can give and all the lives we can touch.
We can all be mothers.

How to make someone believe that their life is worth living

How can I help you understand
The beauty that I see
When I look at you?

What can I do
To make you realize
That your spirit radiates a child-like energy that simply cannot be replaced?

What can I give you
To make you feel as loved as you actually are
Even if you don't always feel it?

How am I supposed to tell you
That the pain that you feel is so valid
But it doesn't make you as weak as you feel, and that you are strong?

What can I do but listen?
To the horrors of your past
And do my best to assist you in finding a better environment for your future?

Who must I introduce you to
In order for you to truly comprehend
That this boy who says he loves you really doesn't?

How do I persuade you
To take the necessary and incredibly difficult steps
To free yourself of this crippling addiction?

What do I say
To convince you that there are so many people
That would be devastated and broken if you were gone?

What will make you see
That there is so much promise in your future
And that your current mistakes will not stop you from achieving?

How can I approach you
When the words you use to express your feelings about life
Make me feel like you have already given up?

How am I supposed to try to make you believe
That your life
Is worth living?

There could be something more than this

A hamster wheel
That's how some of the world sees America
And I can feel it
While I'm in it

I'm happy with my life and my productivity
But am I only happy, because this is all that I know?
Could there be
Something more than this?

From what I understand,
I'm doing everything right.
Going to school, making money, contributing to society,
But is this the only kind of right?

When I am told,
That maybe, just maybe,
I was born in the wrong place
I wonder what the world could hold for me

All this time
I have held such gratitude
For the fact that I was born
Into this land of "opportunity'

But I'm now realizing
That this opportunity that I have been presented
Is not just my opportunity
It is opportunity that is benefiting someone who only wants to benefit himself

The opportunity
Is the opportunity to always spend my life
Trying to get ahead of someone
Who is benefiting from my trying - it never ends

I want to explore
and I want to know
What could be beyond