Sunday May 14, 2023 | LANGFORD, BC [Updated May 15, 2023]
Editorial by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms… new, seasoned, remembered and reminded. We are the fabric of society. To use an old phrase: she who rocks the cradle rules the world.
Today I celebrate my own four beautiful grown children and their partners, my 95-year-old mother, my grandmothers passed on, and special friends who enrich the fabric of the journey.
In the past few years — now age 68 and at this later stage of my career and adult life that I have spent supporting causes for women and women’s rights in politics, business, health and society — I see many advancements, but also an astonishing number of stalemates and even setbacks.
Misogyny is deeply ingrained in the North American culture. It is quietly invasive and nearly always debilitating if not destructive.
It is actually my hope that people become ‘gender blind’ in the years ahead. One’s reproductive abilities or sexual orientation should have no bearing on the contributions we make to our families and society. And arguably, people should not feel compelled (or pressured) to change their outer appearance of gender in order to feel like they fit in.
A big part of the societal change needs to be within property law and marriage law. So long as people combine property within any marriage (including common law) arrangement, the sanctity of humanness becomes contained or even tainted.
Another big part of the change needs to be societal and cultural attitudes and options, as well as the lingering ingrained impacts of the major world religions.
Yes, I am a free spirit in a society that is mostly bent on belonging to large parties and circles of powerful people, most of which are still headed by men (more specifically men with corporate and political clout). A coup by women is not the answer. Rather, the sheer beingness of humanity is what needs to rise above the fray and shackles that many people — men and women — alive and flourishing within in today’s so-called modern world.
Under my editor’s pen, this publication Island Social Trends reports on news of the day, but always (since inception in 2008 as MapleLine Magazine, which morphed into Sooke Voice News in 2011 and later emerged as West Shore Voice News in 2014, becoming the online news portal Island Social Trends in 2020) the lens has been sociocultural, socioeconomic and sociopolitical… i.e. exploring how people as social entities combine to shape and guide those of us who live on this precious planet.
Today on Mother’s Day let’s remember all the women throughout history which have sustained the human race. Beyond the normal spectrum of motherhood, we need also include mothers who have lost children (by circumstance or choice) and also those who actively care for other people’s children (aunties, early childhood educators, foster parents, etc).
This is a complex world in which sanity and compassion hopefully still rise above the challenges and stresses that many people and societies face. Cherishing and exploring the impact of our mothers is a great place to start.
~ Mary P Brooke, Editor & Publisher, Island Social Trends
===== OTHER COMMENTS ON MOTHER’S DAY:
“Whether you celebrate Mother’s Day or not, it is a great opportunity to honour the incredible women in our communities by reflecting on the sacrifices they have made and the impact they have on our lives. It’s important to take today to recognize the obstacles and challenges that come with identifying as female in this province, even after all the strides our mothers and grandmothers have made.” ~ BC Green Leader Sonia Furstenau
“Thanks to all the moms. You’re the best!” ~ BC Premier David Eby
“To all the mothers, matriarchs and caregivers doing the most here in BC — Happy Mother’s Day. And to those who don’t mark this day with celebration: we see you, too.” ~ BC NDP
===== ABOUT ISLAND SOCIAL TRENDS:
Island Social Trends is a professional news portal at islandsocialtrends.ca . Fully online as a daily news portal since mid-2020, Island Social Trends emerged from previous print publications in the west shore: MapleLine Magazine (2008-2010), Sooke Voice News (2011-2013), and West Shore Voice News (2014-2020).
Since 2008, journalist and editor Mary P Brooke has taken a socioeconomic lens to reporting and analyzing the news of the west shore and south Vancouver Island region, including BC and national news impacts. [See Island Social Trends Politics Archive]. As of 2023 she reports with the BC Legislative Press Gallery.
Mary P Brooke has also focused on news of School District 62 at the board level since 2014 [see Island Social Trends Education archive]. During 2020 and 2021 she reported daily on COVID to build the ongoing COVID pandemic archive. Starting 2022 she has been building a Food Security news archive.
Watch for the renewed print edition of Island Social Trends in summer 2023. Advertisers welcome – inquiries.