Follow The Mother

The feminine style of leadership, best embodied by the mother, is what we need to become balanced human beings capable of creating a balanced world.

- Suma Varughese

“Her hazel eyes seemed to have experienced all possible tragedy and to have mounted pain and suffering like steps into a high calm and a superhuman understanding. She seemed to know, to accept, to welcome her position, the citadel of the family, the strong place that could not be taken.

And since old Tom and the children could not know hurt or fear unless she acknowledged hurt and fear, she had practiced denying them in herself. And since, when a joyful thing happened, they looked to see whether joy was on her, it was her habit to build up laughter out of inadequate materials....

She seemed to know that if she swayed the family shook, and if she ever really deeply wavered or despaired the family would fall, the family will to function would be gone.”

This passage from the powerful novel, The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck describes Ma Joad. Ma Joad was the quintessential mother, strong, enduring, giving and loving. No matter what life threw at her, she took it, absorbed it, and made it easier for her family to bear. For her, sacrifice was natural and instinctive. She kept the family interest far above her own, and thought and acted on behalf of the family unit. Her strength kept the family together.

In how many families would this storyline have been replayed from time immemorial? The mother as the backbone of the family, striving with every ounce of her muscle and sinew to raise her young, cope with family challenges, nurture and nourish the family, and keep it together despite all clashes and conflicts.