"Universal Motherhood"
by Rev. Christine
5/9/99

Today as a mother and grandmother myself, I am speaking about our children. You don’t have to be a mother to have the children of our families, communities, countries, or world as a foremost concern and priority. Some of the qualities of motherhood are nurturing, caring, strengthening, empowering, and freeing. Motherhood in this sense is not just limited to women with children, but to all sexes and all ages.

A couple of weeks ago this country was in shock and morning over the deaths of children and teachers committed by children. The high school in Littleton, Colorado was the focal point. This was not an isolated case, the numbers each year are increasing, and the numbers killed are too. How many have to die before we as a society awaken.

I felt this deep pain in my heart, not just for those killed and their families, but for all the survivors as well. I also was grieving for my past losses.

I talked to my daughter about how it affected me, and she too was grieving. Not only for the families and children of Littleton, but it brought back the death of her brother. She saw her brother hit by a car which took his life. She knows what it is like to lose someone close, and to have to go on with life, while nothing is the same or ever will be.

For me it brought back the memory of my girlfriend, a senior in high school, engaged to be married, who committed suicide. I remember the lost feeling, going back to school, and being so empty and alone — the pain was so great. I found out afterwards that she was pregnant and her fiancee was bowing out of the marriage. Her shame was so great that she couldn’t even tell her best friend. I felt I had personally failed her. Yet it wasn’t me, it was her family and society. This was 1962. She was just one of many. Since then society has changed its attitude in regards to unwed mothers.

Today’s violence in schools, street gangs, and kids on drugs is a symptom of our society. Oprah Winfrey has been touching on this subject. The week before, she had the author of "Real Boys." He said that boys are most likely today to commit suicide because they have to mask their feelings. They are taught at a very young age that to be a man means not to show emotion or express their feelings. Eventually suppressed feelings leads to rage killing them self or others. In quotes, "If they don’t cry tears — they cry bullets."

Violence in school isn’t new, but weapons were mostly fists and knives not guns and bombs. There fight was usually about a girlfriend or school rivals. Today its rage towards their own school both students and faculty. Our children are in crisis. Its time we pay attention and take responsibility.

I can see that through the years our children are more isolated. Since the 50's TVs have become unsupervised baby-sitters, 70's & 80's brought more working mothers and infants in daycare centers, our teens & pre-teens today are connected to headphones and computers. Many parents don’t even know what their children are listening and watching, or whom they communicating with.

There is so much more violence in our entertainment; I call it blood and guts. Our children are becoming de-sensitized, and detached to reality. You take an emotionally abandoned child and have a dysfunctional home life.

Then remove God and the spiritual reverence for life. Remove creative expression from the schools in the arts, music, hobbies, and sports. Create high mental stress with hours of homework, sense of failure or loss of hope. Next bombard with TV violence, and loud discordant music with angry raging words banging in their ears for hours at a time. What do you have, what else can one expect?

The author of "Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus", also on Ophra, has a new book. He talked about the black sheep of the family. The child that is acting out. He claims that it is the child that is most sensitive that is absorbing the negative energy in the household. The unspoken, suppressed feelings and emotions are leaked out, and the child picks it up. They don’t know how to express what is wrong, or what they are feeling except maybe anxious, irritable, and afraid, and so they act out in anger.

Children have so many daily decisions to make at such a young age, than I think we can even comprehend; drugs, sex, friends, fight or die. Their world is so much more complicated than when I was a child. We had the Vietnam war, with our young men being shell shocked by watching their friends lay next to them die. Today the war zone is right here in our schools and the victims are younger.

We are told that since the mid 80s the new children are coming in. These children are to be coming in with a greater degree of awareness, love and sensitivity. My thoughts when I heard this some 15 years ago, was how were they going to unfold in a society, and families that aren’t prepared to nurture and cultivate their special gifts. It seems to me we are finding out.

Mother Mary is a universal symbol for motherhood. We hear of statues of her weeping tears, an ever increased number of apparitions and channeled messages of sorrow. I now know her tears are for our children. Its time for all of us men and women to balance that nurturing part of us. To care about our children on a global scale. To make our children’s needs number one.

I truly believe that God will make good out of this painful time. God will use this to bring forth the right conditions to usher in the new awakened consciousness. How? Through those that have ears to hear.

Can we imagine a world of enlightened children. What would they be like? What would their parents be like, their families, schools, communities, and society? Think on these things for a few moments. Then we will share our thoughts.

How do we bridge the gap? What can we personally do?