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.