Maiden, Mhysa, Crone

            If you were to ask me what I thought was one of the most powerful words in the English language, in any language, I would have this to say: Mother. What brings me to this conclusion is the continued revisiting of the season finale of Game of Thrones. If you haven’t watched it yet, avert your eyes. Thousands of freed slaves crying out to Daenerys Targaryen MHYSA! And the moment when Daenerys asks what it means and she is told it means Mother, that is a powerful moment to me.

            When a woman becomes a mother, she is given a gift to love and care for. A defenseless child, with no idea of the world they just joined. In truth, a child is clay to be molded, at first. How a mother raises her child determines the foundation the rest of their lives will stand on. If you raise a child to value power, as Cersei did with Joffrey, the end result is a power hungry king, hardly fit to rule, more interested in cruel acts than acts of kindness. If you raise a child with values of kindness towards others and a sense of honor, then you get someone who tries to do the right thing. In theory at least. I believe in equal parts nature and nurture. I believe that we can learn to control our darkest impulses, we just have to be given a good reason.

            The future of the world lies in the small hands of our children. We teach them how to hold it, how to cup their hands together so the fate of the world does not slip through their fingers. This is why I believe education is so important. In my nephew’s Kindergarten class, it was strange to look around and think that this is the future and that every child there has the potential to change the world, for good or ill. How we teach them, the foundation they are given means so much in how they will turn out. And it starts with the woman who gave birth to them.

            Whether it’s my nephews or children of my own, I will never speak against their parents in front of them. If Bear and I have children and then decide we can’t get along, we’ve both agreed that we will put our issues aside and do what’s best for them. I’ve seen too much bullshit with certain custody battles and a tug of war with a kid who does not deserve to be put in that position. And even though the situation I have in mind, I do not like the kid’s mom at all, I will never talk down about her in front of him. He loves his Mama and he’s so young that I believe he should be allowed to put her on a pedestal. The day will come when he realizes she’s not perfect and that she has made mistakes, but for the duration of his childhood, she’s his Mama and that’s all there is to it. Period.

            Even if a child grows into adulthood and realizes that their parent has made some big mistakes, maybe even that he/she is not a good person at all, they will still have the memories from their childhood of them. The kid I mentioned earlier whose Mom I have no love for at all, he may grow up and decide he wants nothing to do with her, but no one can take away his childhood memories with her. Nothing can dull the bright place they will hold in his heart. I speak from experience on that one, not with my own parents but other people that have been in my life a long time.

            You grow up and realize the people you put up so high as a kid, they’re not perfect. They’ve done things that make you stop for a moment, frozen by disbelief, but like I said, nothing will take away the special moments you shared with them. And I’ll be damned if I or anyone else ruins that.