A family is regarded as a valued miniature replica of society in itself. The family, being the smallest unit in society, is indisputably significant. The family cements a nation together by providing it a past, a present and a future. And the nation is made up of families. It is in the family where the role of the mother is conspicuously marked. There is little denying that almost all people of diverse social status \u2013 the rich and the poor, the ruler and the ruled, the noble and the base, somehow grew in the family and chances are high that they were nurtured by a woman \u2013 their biological mother or stepmother.<\/p>\n
It is the mother who is arguably at the centre of the family. And it is the family which is the central unit of the state. Therefore, the mother can be said, conclusively, to be the central unit of the state. Following this line of reasoning, it comes as no surprise to note that today the whole nation is rapture in merry-celebrations about and for the mothers of the state. These mothers are the ones who gave birth and nurtured the nation \u2013 whereby the word nation here shall mean people. These mothers (dead or alive) gave birth to the leaders who have ruled the nation before and those that are ruling it now. Again, these are the mothers who gave birth to people who have occupied this beautiful land called Malawi.<\/p>\n
The august respect being accorded to them today is neither a hyperbole about their status nor a cosmetic deliberation blatantly intended to flatter them. This special recognition for the mothers is well-founded. Again, the mothers deserve this respect, attention and celebration not merely because they are feminine but because of their indispensable role(s) both in the home and at national level.<\/p>\n
Throughout different societies world over and from time immemorial, mothers have been respected for the role(s) they play. Perhaps in all antiquity, it was Sparta which respected mothers (women) so well that even if 2,500 years have elapsed now, their lessons remain an object of great knowledge to the people of the modern age. It is written by Plutarch that \u201cthe men of Sparta always obeyed their wives\u201d. It was this great respect that women were given in ancient Sparta that sparked jealousy from other Greeks in other city states. These other cynic Greeks believed that Spartan women had far too much power for the good of the state. Anyway, that women had the potential to undermine the power of the state can be contested but what is known though is that Spartan mothers were highly regarded, trusted and cherished by the Spartans themselves. This is a core lesson to us in this very day whereby respect for our mothers is fast degenerating into oblivion.<\/p>\n
It is said that for a woman in ancient Sparta, motherhood was primarily important. Sparta was a city state that was at war for close to 500 years. So, in this militaristic state, a woman had a duty to bear and rear healthy children \u2013 particularly strong and brave sons to serve in the military. Thus, here is laid one of the major tasks of women in the ancient world. Firstly, through them, procreation was possible to supply the state with human resources. Secondly, their role in raising the children according to the standards of the state provided the right, efficient and effective human resource for the guidance, protection and sustainability of the state.<\/p>\n
This role by the mothers still continues up to date. One must know that our mothers provided the nation with the much-needed human resource. In addition, they brought up this human resource in a way that shaped their destiny by preparing them to become good citizens who can work for the benefit of their country.<\/p>\n
Back to Sparta, the woman\u2019s role was viewed as equal in importance to that of man. In Sparta, men were absent from the home in the early years of marriage and because of their military engagement, the care of children was mostly left in the hands of the mother. This is true even in our society where our men, not that they go to war, but rather are preoccupied with other engagements; these render them busy that they hardly spend any time in their homes \u2013 helping to raise the children up. So it is highly owed to a woman (mother) the upbringing of a child.<\/p>\n
Again, in ancient Sparta, mothers helped to inculcate good morals which were deemed virtuous to the young ones. According to Blundell (1995) and Pomeroy (2002), \u201cin ancient Sparta, mothers encouraged bravery in their sons and did not tolerate cowardice in battle nor did they mourn the loss of their sons in war. They took pride in the fact that their sons died in defence of Sparta and were known to kill their sons who had displayed signs of fear during battle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thus, mothers should inspire their children to be great and achieve great. They ought to fire their children with ambition to excel through the dense forest of life. Every child must feel called upon to serve the nation once adulthood is achieved. We may not be a military state where strong and brave sons are needed for the defence of the country but we still need \u201cstrong\u201d (intellectually and physically) children to grow into useful citizens. So, our mothers have that responsibility to see to it that the nation produces useful citizens who can contribute meaningfully to development. And the nation can only rely on the family where the mother is active in raising the child.<\/p>\n
The government of Sparta, in realising how important mothers were, encouraged girls to acquire education. So girls were given education in arts and athletics. This helped them be strong so that they should give birth to strong children who would help the state. In our days, we can encourage our girls to live a principled life by avoiding immoral behaviour for the sake of preparing them to be good mothers. Secondly, women were also encouraged to develop their intellect (wit and reasoning). On this, our girls too, must be motivated to attain both basic and higher education so as to become good mothers in future who will know about the necessity of advising children to go to school. It is these mothers who, through their advice, can shape the life of their children to be good citizens.<\/p>\n
Therefore, our mothers are indeed the mothers of the nation for their role(s) cannot be easily dismissed or overlooked. As a nation, we are not ashamed of them and, as the whole world stands aside and watch us in this merriment, may all mothers feel proud of their status.<\/p>\n
Once, a woman from Attica in ancient Greece asked a Spartan woman: \u201cWhy is it that you Spartans are the only women who can rule men?\u201d<\/p>\n
The other woman replied: \u201cBecause we are the only ones who give birth to men.\u201d So, to our mothers, if anyone asks you why the whole nation dedicates this day to you, answer them that: \u201cBecause we mothered and nurtured it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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