Robin Walker’s son, Spc. Mikeal ěGreyî Walker, is serving in the Army in Iraq. So her feelings about the death of Osama bin Laden are a more powerful mix than non-military moms might feel.
ěI would have to say that it is good news that there is one less terrorist in the world,î Robin said in an e-mail, ěyet there are still radicals/terrorists that may see our celebration of the death of a ëmartyrí as a reason to be a martyr. We still have troops in the Middle East that need our support.
ěThat is my personal opinion; as to Greyís, he really hasnít said too much ó just that he still has a job to do.î
I worried when my daughters did things like walk across college campuses at night, move to strange cities and search for jobs during the Great Recession. I am in awe of parents whose young men and women are on active duty in the war on terror.
Robin goes on:
ěI do know that we need for people to continue to support and pray for our troops until they all come home.î

Motherís Day actually came about in the United States because of war ó not to pay homage to mothers, but as a call to maternal action on behalf of peace and understanding. It started during the Civil War, when mothers met to support each other and even reached across the line separating Yankee blue from Rebel gray to reunite divided families. That was Motherís Friendship Day.
The Civil War drove women into action on the home front. Salisbury had a motherís demonstration of sorts on March 18, 1863, when a group of about 50 local women, identified as wives and mothers of Confederate soldiers, staged what became known as the Bread Riot.
This is from a piece in the University of North Carolina Archive:
ěThe women believed that local merchants had been profiteering by raising the prices of necessary foods and demanded that the merchants sell these goods at government prices. When the merchants refused, the women broke down one shop door with hatchets and threatened other storekeepers.î
They netted 23 barrels of flour, $20 cash and a good supply of molasses and salt.
Women ó mothers ó have always had their battles.

And not just in the South. Think of ěMine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord….î The woman who wrote those lines and the rest of ěThe Battle Hymn of the Republicî in 1861 was Julia Ward Howe.
More than a decade after she wrote the song ó after seeing the carnage and destruction of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War ó Howe led a Motherís Day for Peace observance in 1872 in Boston that continued about 10 years before it died out.
Eventually, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Motherís Day a national holiday in 1914 after a push by Anna Jarvis, whose mother had tried to establish Motherís Friendship Days in the Civil War era.

Mothers are prone to take up causes on behalf of their children, from raising money for the PTA to petitioning town boards for lower speed limits.
They must face a tornado of feelings when their child ó the person theyíve nurtured and protected to adulthood ó joins the military.
The fear of what might happen mixes with intense pride. While other young adults are trying to find themselves, start careers and make money, theirs are volunteering to serve their country ó even if it puts them in harmís way.
One writer has called them ěthe few, the proud, the terrified,î referring actually to the mothers and fathers of the 1.3 million Americans on active duty around the world.
Yet what I have heard in correspondence with military moms is calmness, resolve, patience ó and hope. They also serve who watch and wait.
While the rest of us revolve around our own small spheres, they live in the whole world, following wars and conflicts around the globe while keeping mental track of where their sons and daughters are. In every waking moment, they breathe a silent prayer.
Make it home.
Make it home.
Make it home.

The commercialized version of Motherís Day is about paying tribute to mothers and letting us have our special day.
But its roots lie in the purpose and idealism that spur mothers to take on whatever cause is necessary to ensure a better home or school or town or world for our children ó and all the children to come.
A stanza from ěThe Battle Hymn of the Republicî fits:
ěI have read a fiery gospel writ in burnished rows of steel:
ěAs ye deal with my contemners, so with you my grace shall deal;
ěLet the Hero, born of woman, crush the serpent with his heel,
ěSince God is marching on.î
We pray for peace ó and for the young men and women who fight our wars.
Glory, glory. Hallelujah.

Elizabeth Cook is editor of the Salisbury Post.