What does it take to be a mother? Is it just the act of giving birth? Does that qualify one as a mother? Even savages give birth and still eat their offspring? Do they qualify as mothers? What is it about motherhood that has been traced to be the very bedrock of how a society operates? It has even been said that it is women when trained that train a society. So, does that imply that motherhood has the attribute of a nurturer. You train a yam seedling. You culture a plant. You grow a tree. All these are motherly attributes. So, it should make sense to you that any woman, even though she had given birth, who does not have these nurturing effect on what she lays her hands on is not a mother.
Are you a mother? Is it by virtue of birthing a child or by virtue of nurturing life? The founder of Sisters Fellowship International, Rev. Mrs Nches has never given birth in her life. But she has nurtured more lives than many biological mothers can imagine. I think that makes her a bonafide mother. How about the likes of Oby Ezekwesili, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Folorunsho Alakija, Amina Mohammed are remembered more for the impact they made on lives and the society than on their ability to give birth.
In other words, motherhood has more to do with impact. It has more to do with bringing soul, heart to living. It has more to do with bringing that incubation that produces well rounded people and successful projects.
Mother” is the modern-English equivalent of the Old English “modor,” pronounced “moh-dor.” This comes from the Latin word “mater,” pronounced “mah-ter.” I’m sure most of the fine folks reading this could guess as much; does the phrase “Alma Mater” ring any bells? It means “nourishing mother” in good-ole Latin.
So, you can see that motherhood is akin to a school. You see the level of responsibilty nature has given to mothers. The young are meant to be with their mothers more and that is why science has it that a mother’s level of awareness has a direct bearing on that of the children.
It therefore behooves on mothers to work on themselves continually, upgrading themselves and ever aligning themselves to the ideals of a functional society. That is the only way they can fulfill their roles as nurturers and thereby mothers in every sense of the word.
Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers; biological and otherwise.
