I'll remember 2002 not as the year my mother turned 80, but as the year in which she became a true American citizen. After immigrating to the United States in 1946, she was naturalized in 1955. Mom originally balked at the part of the pledge involving, if necessary, taking up arms against her homeland, and she only signed when a judge convinced her that the US wouldn't be going to war with England any time soon. She exercised her right to vote in the very next election. But it was last month that I saw the true American in her emerge.

I was visiting for a few days to help in prepare her garden for planting before heading to Washington, DC, for a rally and march for peace and justice abroad and at home. My laptop was out and turned on during my first morning there, prompting Mom to complain, "You women today. Can't leave your work behind even for a day."

"This isn't for work," I responded. "There was a message marked `Urgent' that I didn't get to read before I left home yesterday -- something political. I just want to see what it is."

"Oh," she replied, now interested. Then, as I started to read, and then groan, "Read it out loud."

So I read about the pending close Senate vote on opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and the last-minute "sweetener" deals being made to swing votes, including health benefits to retired steel workers and oil aid to Israel.

"Sounds like they're courting our senators," my father commented.

"Maybe you should call then," I suggested. "That is, if you have an opinion on the issue."

"I do," Mom replied, but she clearly wasn't sure about how to proceed. So I wrote down the number for the congressional switchboard. All she had to do was ask for her senator's office and she'd be connected. I wrote down the name of the bill, so she'd know what to refer to, and then went out to start weeding and mulching. A few minutes later, Mom yelled out the window that the vote had already happened.

"Oh no!" I wailed.

"No, no. It's good news. It was defeated!"

"All right!" I replied. "Score one for Mother Nature!"

Honestly, the bees that had been bugging me moments before seemed to disappear. Maybe they'd gone to share the buzz with the rest of the hive. My mother will definitely be sharing the buzz with her friends. So on this Mother's Day, I will honor my mother, the citizen, as well as all the other mothers and children who spoke up on behalf of Mother Earth last month.

The first celebrations in honor of mothers were held in ancient Greece, paying tribute to Rhea, mother of the gods. As Rhea Kronia, Mother Time, she wielded her moon-sickle to reap all that she had sown, devouring her children one by one in the endless cycle of birth and death. In Hellenic myth, Rhea was the mother of Zeus, who "raped" both his mother and his sister-bride, Hera, Rhea's daughter. Hera (He-Era, the Earth) was really another form of the great mother Rhea.

Drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would have been yet another rape of Mother Earth, and it was very important to put a stop to that plan. The work is far from over, however. Now is the time for all good men and women to come to the aid of their country . . . and their Mother.

In its fiscal 2003 budget request, the Bush administration is seeking $15.5 million to study the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator. Just the name makes me shudder, but think for a moment what one of these nuclear bombs, bigger than the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, would do while "penetrating" the Earth. It would have an equally devastating effect on the progress of the global nuclear non-proliferation effort. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island chairs the Senate subcommittee that has been considering this new weapon. Make sure he knows how you feel about the Earth Penetrator. Call (202) 224-4680 or fax (202) 224-4680. The number for Reed's Rhode Island office is (401) 943-3100.

(Elizabeth King, an aide to the senator, tells me that she has received more than 200 calls from Rhode Islanders urging Reed to cut funding for the new nuclear weapon. This is in addition to many faxed letters. We can all be very proud of our efforts! Keep it coming.)

After the hearing the talk of nuclear weapons heating up, I dusted off my copy of the 1986 Academy-award winning documentary, Women -- For America, For the World, about the threat of nuclear proliferation. It starts out with these words:

Because human suffering and rising political tensions sometimes seem beyond our control, we turn away. The women we are about to see bring us a message of hope. They remind us that we can make a difference, that our voices can be heard. They propose we use our nation's scientific talents and our national treasure to lessen the suffering and to ease the tensions. These women encourage us to take an active part in ensuring a future for humanity.

Addie Wyatt, then-vice president of United Food and Commercial Workers union, says:

We conceive the nation in our bodies. We carry the nation in our bodies. In pain and suffering, we grunt the nation into being. We nurse it and we nurture it to help it grow up. It certainly is our responsibility to help decide which way the nation goes.

There's also the statistic that just five per cent of our nation's military budget would lift every American child in need out of poverty. And author and therapist Joanna Macy claims:

In the nuclear age, our nuclear family is all the children of the world.

Our nuclear family is in trouble. Twelve million children in the United States live in poverty. Six hundred million children around the world live on less than $1 a day. Twenty million children have been injured, killed, or displaced from their homes by war. Thirteen million have been orphaned due to HIV/AIDS. Can't we think about meeting their needs before we spend time and money on debating an Unborn Victims of Violence Act?

Twenty years ago next month, I attended an anti-nuclear march and rally in New York City that was one of the largest peace gatherings ever held. We thought the nuclear age had come to a standstill then and there, but apparently not. There will be another event in New York this year, and it will be just as relevant. Nuclear bombs don't discriminate between terrorists and innocent victims. We can't allow Mother Earth or her children to be abused in this violent way.

Very often in nature, when the young are threatened, the female gets fierce. Women of America, Mother Earth's children need your fierce love now. We know what happens when children are raised with love and care instead of neglect or abuse. Countless Americans have fought and died for our right to have both a vote and a voice in determining our nation's direction at home and abroad. It's up to us, however, to pick up those tools and rebuild the democracy we were bequeathed. Do it for your Mother.

Issue Date: May 10 - 16, 2002