Lady Liberty on Mother’s Day
On this Mother’s Day, as we reflect on the role of motherhood and express our gratitude to the many mothers that have impacted our lives–and as I idly flip the silver dollar I keep in my pocket–I am struck by the choice of a woman–the ancient Roman goddess Libertas, or Lady Liberty–as the symbol of freedom.
Throughout history and across all cultures, in broad strokes, people have seen man as the proud, individualistic, self-sufficient, free-ranging spirit and woman as the loving, meek, nurturing, homesteading spirit.
While these depictions are true to varying degrees and do not necessarily disparage either women or men, they do not tell the whole story. The many cultures who, throughout history, employed some variation of the Lady Liberty symbolism must have understood this.
For while it is frequently the mother bird who gives birth to, shelters, feeds, and nurtures the young, it is also–in a seeming paradox–the mother bird who often kicks the fledging young out of the nest, knowing instinctively that her young will not survive if they do not learn to survive on their own.
We frequently get swept away in admiration of the great leaders, the great thinkers, and the great achievers of the world who we see soaring to the majestic heights that the exercise of true freedom has made attainable.
But so seldom do we appreciate the mother who gave life to an individual, nurtured them, and then freely turned over to that individual the exclusive title to that life and all the fruits it may bear.
So seldom do the beneficiaries of liberty appreciate the worry, faith, anxiety, peace, sacrifices, blessings, sorrow, and joy experienced by the benefactors of liberty.
And so it is that today we take pause to reflect upon and express our gratitude to the mothers who have blessed us with the two most precious treasures humankind has ever known: life and liberty.