A Mother's Struggle

Professor Sexson is constantly repeating to our class that history is not mythology because mythology is ever present in our lives and our situations. The stories of our lives are no different than the stories of our past; they are dramatic, heartfelt and explain unanswered questions. No sooner had I begun our first reading did these words come across my mind and became displayed on the pages in front of me.

Though most focus on the story of Demeter and Persephone as the Greek’s explanation of seasons I saw something much more tangible than that. Demeter’s struggle is one that mother’s continue to face each and every day. A mother gives birth to her child, nurtures her child, provides for her child, all leading up to the abandonment the child will one day commit. Of course, mother’s today are a bit more prepared for this departure than our poor Goddess Demeter was.

How Demeter feels and reacts can be felt by any woman intending to become a mother or already having a child. We as humans seem to focus on the things around us as possessions. When one of our possessions up and leaves us it can be a trying time. Though like Persephone, the children of today come back to see the parents they abandoned it can never be the same as when they were innocent children. The mother cannot know the new experiences a child has, cannot champion the child, or punish the child; the mother is cut off from a section of the child’s life. And though we as children know the pain our mother’s feel at our departure we still continue to leave the home in search of greater things.