On several occasions, I have written about how nurses and teachers are the backbone of society. And I said they should be paid whatever they ask because we already pay through the nose for trumped up service from sharks like lawyers or marginal service from satiated warthogs like politicians.
So, nurses and teachers were tied at No. 1 until I had a eureka moment: I was at a beach and a young mother showed up with two little girls, about 1 and 4 years old. The mother tirelessly carried the youngest daughter while going back and forth for her stuff like the sun umbrella and cooler, etc. Then I watched her set up while she watched her kids like a hawk. Then, the three finally waded into the water to cool off from the heat, the young mother still carrying her youngest.
It was then I realized the most important — and all too often taken for granted — job that is motherhood. It suddenly struck me: A mother’s job includes the two other vocations of nursing and teaching. Add to that: Protection, entertainment, emotional attachment culminating in unconditional love. And cooking and cleaning is still hardly off the table in this society, for the most part. And here’s the mind-blowing part: It pays virtually nothing. ( Don’t even think of bringing up government child credits and whatever pittance is thrown at them; that should be pedicure and manicure money by comparison to the job description.) Mothers should get a government raise. A really BIG raise. (Taxpayers save in the long run when the children grow up to be a good tax-paying citizens in turn, and we don’t have to support their adulthood lodging in prisons.)
The mind-blowing bent goes even further when you think of how long – in the scheme of humanity’s stay on this blue and green ball — women have been considered unequal? ! (This one calls for both a question mark and an exclamation mark, Sister.)
The role of motherhood in humanity, what can I say? They deliver the infant. They nurture. They teach. They suffer when the child has a sniffle. They cradle their children when they are feeling down. They encourage their kids’ ambitions and talents. Even when the kids become fully grown adults. (And she has to balance a relationship with her significant other, to boot, if he is around.) A mother never retires. (Maybe that’s why she doesn’t have an appropriate retirement pension.)
Folks, speaking as a red-blooded father, I gotta’ tell you about the Godzillian elephant in the room; fathers are very, very important in the upbringing of future good citizens. But mothers are vital .
So, now my list of most important jobs is revised:
- 1 — Mothers
- 2 — Nurses and teachers; a tie
And don’t you people out there ever forget this.
Writer’s note: I was going to save this for Mother’s Day but it’s too far away. Besides, every day should be Mother’s Day. Now, if she is within reach, go and hug her. If she is near a phone, call her. If she has passed on — remember her.
Cheers.
Copyright Postmedia Network Inc., 2019
