"We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."
--Julia Ward Howe, 1870 Mother's Peace Day Proclamation
(Photo of Iraqi children, 2007, on the way to school)

Howe wrote those words while wars raged -- first the Civil War, then the Franco-Prussian War. She called for women to oppose war; and more, to act -- to convene and to promote peace. She believed women had to assert some authority over our fates, or we would face perpetual war.

How devastating that so little has changed. How disturbing that our country continues to choose to go to war before exhausting every other possible action.

Now we find our country in another senseless, bloody, protracted war -- and we find her words resounding more loudly than ever. It may be that women, mothers or not, need to be the ones to end this war, and to protect children of every country.

WAND has long celebrated Mother's Day in its original spirit: as a day for Peace. This year, that spirit is more vital and poignant than ever.

We welcome you to celebrate Mother's Peace Day with us. Not with flowers, candy, gewgaws, or brunch. But with signs and rallies and messages to Congress. We have to take this upon ourselves -- we have to honor the lives of all children, all women, all human beings.

When I opened the file with the photo of the Iraqi children on their way to school, I gasped. Not that they looked so joyful, even in the midst of war; not that the sun continued to shine, even with the dust of bombs settling every day; not that regular people continued to go about the daily business of living, even in the midst of so much destruction and blood. But that these are the faces of my children. My kids look just like this every morning. They sling their pink backpacks over their shoulders, their shiny hair catches the sun, they jostle into their friends. They run across the pavement and into the building, shouting and stumbling.

These kids are not my enemies. They are my kids. And I feel the compulsion to protect them.

I will find it hard to celebrate this Mother's Day. But I won't find it hard to march, to chant, and to send a message to our government.

It is time. It is time to end this war, and to find another way.

(For words from someone still living in Iraq, visit our blog. Thanks.)