According to the History Channel, "[t]he American incarnation of Mother's Day was created by Anna Jarvis in 1908 and became an official US holiday in 1914," but "Jarvis would later denounce the holiday's commercialization and spent the latter part of her life trying to remove it from the calendar." Admittedly, I usually get my Mom some sort of gift for the day, but I hate the idea of cards. If there's one thing I dislike more about holidays than anything else, it's the proliferation of greeting and holidays cards for every occasion.
Of course, the honouring of mothers with their own day for recognition goes back to Greek and Roman times as the History Channel points out, but it was President Woodrow Wilson who established the second Sunday in May as Mother's Day in the US after issuing a presidential proclamation on March 9, 1914. That proclamation allowed capitalism to take over the celebratory day as florists, card companies, and other vendors saw the opportunity to rake in the cash. By 1920, Anna Jarvis "had become disgusted with how the holiday had been commercialized" as she "outwardly denounced the transformation and urged people to stop buying Mother's Day flowers, cards and candies."
See? I'm not the only one who hates holiday cards!
According to Marketplace.org, "[t]he National Retail Federation estimates that 78 percent of Americans will buy a card for Mother's Day", and the greeting card industry generates some "$6 billion to $7 billion" annually through sales. Hallmark even states that "Mother's Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday in the United States, with 113 million cards exchanged annually" and "is the largest card-sending holiday for the Hispanic community."
So why am I posting all of this vitriol towards greeting cards? According to Recycled Greeting Cards, approximately "2.5 million trees cut down each year for greeting cards". That's a lot of trees sacrificed for one day's worth of "Happy Mother's Day" greetings.
Let me be clear: I'm not saying you can't buy a card for your mom on Mother's Day. What I am imploring you to do, though, is to plant a tree with her if you do buy one. The tree can represent the growth of the love you have for her while the card sends the message in word form. And if you're a mom who gets a card? Please recycle it when the time comes that you feel it can be discarded.
While we may be celebrating our moms today, we shouldn't forget about Mother Nature and Mother Earth who provide us with food, oxygen, and the beauty of nature daily. Sustainable practices should be encouraged more, and I hope you'll do so now that you know some of the facts about greeting cards. After all, "Hallmark makes about half the greeting cards sold in the US, but only a little over half their cards contain a minimum of 10% post-consumer content" which isn't good for Mother Earth.
I'm all for less capitalism and commercialism in my life, so let's do our part by reducing the number of cards bought for holidays. I'm not saying you can't or shouldn't buy cards ever, but we can do our part by making those cards more special by buying fewer and recycling them when they've run their course. If you're already buying less cards and recycling them when received, you're respecting Mother Nature in the best way possible and that's good. If my writing here today changes even just a few people's habits, we're all better off.
Enjoy your day celebrating your Mom. Like Mother Nature, take care of your Mom when she asks for help, and honour her by giving her a hand whenever you can. Moms are special people, and be grateful for every second you have with them. I had brunch with my family as we honoured my Mom, and it was a fantastic meal where it was pretty apparent that she's someone upon whom every member of my family relies!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!
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