Mama Altruism

photo by Kresta King Cutcher Venning

I think it’s natural for anyone altruistic to continually seek higher forms of altruism.

Lately, as Ilea and I raise Francois, I realize more and more how important it is to invest in children. I believe the best way we can develop a more peaceful world is to raise up generations of children committed to living as vessels of love.

This led me to thinking more about the role of a mother. The more I thought, the more I realized the magnitude of her role. Mothers are our only source of life in this world. The only. Clearly something significant is represented there.

Despite endless knowledge of the life to come, a woman chooses to forego life as she knows it to carry a baby for 40 weeks. I cannot imagine what it must feel like, to carry a human in my belly. I honestly believe it is unfathomable for any man.

She knowingly and willingly chooses to go into labor and deliver this human from her body. She knows what is coming, yet she doesn’t abort. She endures the pain breathes life into the world. This is courage like I’ve rarely witnessed in the bravest of men.

She resolves to spending the rest of her life nurturing, teaching and guiding that child. And she does this knowing that she lives in a man’s world and that her role will often be thankless and unnoticed. But she presses on because her gratification comes not from her glorification, but from her compulsion to show love to her child. Her happiness is tied to theirs.

She spends her life serving her family, ensuring they are safe, cared for and know they are loved. And many more mothers are also the primary provider for the family. This is among the rarest and highest forms of dedication I know. It’s a lifelong commitment.

From conception to the end of that child’s life, mothering has the power to change the world more than any other altruistic act I can imagine. They have the power to create a human that proliferates love and incites peace. Can you think of anything more powerful than a world full of these types of people?

Mothers bring life into the world. We owe them our utmost respect.

I believe mothering is the pinnacle of altruism. If we want a more peaceful, egalitarian society, we should turn our focus towards teaching more effective mothering. If you want to contribute to a better world, start, join or support something that fosters more ethically and morally grounded mothering.

But the most important contribution we could make to society is to start valuing the role of a mother more than we do that of a military officer, politician, big business owner or celebrity. Being a mother should be the most valued and respected role in humanity.

I think it’s time we regarded the role of motherhood as the pinnacle of all altruistic endeavors. There simply is no more significant or profound role that a human could live out.

To all of the mothers out there, thank you for breathing life into this world and exemplifying altruism so profoundly. You challenge and inspire me.

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