“The hands that rocks the cradle,” is a poem by William Ross Wallace in which he praises motherhood as the pre-eminent for the change in the world. The poem was first written in 1965 but later on staged as a Hollywood film in 1992 namely, “The Hands that Rocks the Cradle”.
The proverb reveals the role a woman can play in upbringing her children nicely in life. It does mean that a mother can educate her child in a befitting manner. She can polish the qualities of children and can also made them realize the ups and downs in the society.
It is a well-balanced personality of a mother that can instill a new lease of life in the children. If the mother is educated and well-informed she can have brought up her children quite better off. Even an illiterate mother, who know much about the realities and experiences of life can impart the good qualities to her child.
A child gets influenced by her mother in several ways. As the first learning place, a child gets to know the number of things from the mother. These may be how to speak, how to respond to the situation, flexibility, confidence, speaking the truth, and to be honest in life.
A mother indirectly rules the world through her children, who come to acquire power to shine in different fields of life. Those who are reared properly in the lap of their mothers, seldom meet failures in life. Their resounding success actually goes to their mothers.
Napolean once said: “Give me good mothers, I’ll give you a good nation.” Napolean was right that the backbone of a nation is its mother. The mother’s role is very important when it comes to make or break. It is her who can transform a chill into a leader or a loafer.
Hazrat Sheikh Abd-ul-Qadir Jillani (R.A.) was so nicely brought up by her mother that he earned the fame by being honest at an early age. He was taught by his mother never to tell a lie. While he was on his way with some companions, came across the robbers. The robbers looted the companions but when they come to ask for money to Sheikh Abd-ul-Qadir Jillani, he unhesitantly told them about the gold coins weaved in his shirt. These gold-coins were concealed by his mother in his shirt. The robbers were very much impressed by the honesty of Sheikh ABDUL Qadir (R.A.) and decided to give up the robbery once and for all.
That all was due the good manners, and honest attributes of Sheikh Abdul Qadir’s mother that she transmuted in her child. This shows that the mother of children speaks through them.
Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) once quoted: “MY mother was making of me. She was so true, so sure of me and I felt I had something to live for, someone I must not disappoint.”
Thomas Alva Edison was an America inventor and businessman. He invented many devices that greatly influenced the life around the globe. His most important inventions were the phonograph, motion picture camera and electric light bulb.
He was the seventh child of Nancy Mathews Elliott. He used to sell newspapers, candies, and vegetables to supplement his house’s income until an accident forbade him to carry out the work of this kind.
Perhaps, that was the time when he set in type and printed The Grand Trunk Herald, which he sold with other papers. These talents led him to found 14 companies, including the “General Electric” which is one of the largest public trading companies in the world.
Nancy Elliott used to teach him at home after his teachers refused to allow him to study anymore at school. His mother home-schooled him after the teachers portrayed him addled or mentally ill.
There is no record of Edison’s quote from the inspirational story “Thomas Alva Edison was an addled child, that by a hero mother became the genius of the century”. Thomas Edisons was having more than 1093 patents at his name. It is often said that Edison’s mother hide the school-letter from his son, mentioning him addled therein.
After many years of her death, once Mr. Edison was going through his old house-keeping, and found out the same letter in which he was denied of coming to school. He, very much honored his mother for getting a great inventor out of an addled.
Edison’s mother was an attractive and highly educated woman whose influence upon him was profound and long-lasting. The Edison was indeed, fortunate far beyond the ordinary in having a mother at once loving, well-informed, ambitious and capable enough from her experience as a teacher. She could educate him better than could be secured in the local school of the day.
There is hardly any soul today who hasn’t heard about the beautiful sayings, bravery and far-sightedness of Hazrat Ali(A.S.) – the forth caliph of Islam. He was so full of knowledge that his quotes equally fit for today. He was the cousin of Hazrat Muhammad (PBUH). Fatima Bint Asad was the mother of Ali bin Abi Talib. She was so great in upbringing her children. Hazrat Ali used to say: “Do not use the sharpness of your speech on the mother who taught you how to speak.”
Be good to your parents and your children will be good to you. It was the Fatima Bint Asad all behind the thoughtful upbringing of her child.
Only a mother can develop the attributes of patience and flexibility at the early stages of life. Let’s take the example of Pakistan’s first-ever female flying officer to get martyrdom in the line of duty – Maryam Mukhtiar. She is honored with Tamgha-e- Basalat and the idea of giving her award was put forward by Senate Standing Committee. Her mother, Rehana Mukhtar intended her daughter to be the daughter of the soil.
According to a statement by ISPR, she could save her life if she could have ejected herself before taking the jet out of the populous area but both the pilots decided to keep flying the downing jet until it gets out of the populous area.
Her mother, advised her to be like the sun, not like the moon because the moon is itself dependent on the sun to get the light but no one gains the courage to look eye to eye with sun. One can understand how her mother tendered her with the courage and support to get through the difficulties.
Abraham Lincoln was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 6th President of the USA from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865.
Abraham’s mother died when he was only nine. His father then married a widow from Elizabethtown with three children of her own. Abraham became very close to his stepmother, whom he referred to as mother. He hardly enjoys the physical labor, and was an avid reader; and this quality was pointed out by his mother during his childhood.
Abraham Lincoln once said: “All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother.” He acknowledged the importance of his mother’s role in his life. So one can predict that it is a woman who transform a child into a leader.
Lincoln led the US through its civil war and its greatest moral, constitutional and political crisis. In doing so he preserved rhe Union, abolished slavery and strengthened the Federal Government. Lincoln has been consistently ranked by both scholars and the public as one of the three greatest US Presidents.
Marie Curie (1867-1934) is best known for being the first woman to win the Nobel Prize. Apart from being a scientist, she alone raised her two daughters after the death of her husband in an accident. One of her daughters, Joliet Curie managed to win a shared Nobel Prize alongside his husband in Chemistry. Joliet- Curie said her mother instilled hardwork and flexibility in her children and that one must do some work seriously and be independent.
Indra Gandhi- India’s first female PM. She worked to institute democracy and to create jobs to comeback food shortages. She was actually responsible for India’s green revolution, which made the country self-sufficient and no longer reliant on imported grains. She also entrusted a sense of duty in her two sons – Rajev and Sanjay Gandhi, who grew up to become politicians. Rajev served as the Prime Minister of India after the assassination of Indra Gandhi.
Mary Maxwell Gates – the mother of Bill Gates served on the board of directors for corporations and non profit organizations in Seattle. She helped leaders at the IBM to hire Microsoft to create an operating system and following that contract, Microsoft went on to achieve massive successes. But most importantly, Gates encouraged her son to focus on Philanthropy. As of 2015, The Bill and Malinda Gates Foundation has given billions of dollars to fight Malaria, HIV and to improve the opportunities for education.
Whilst going through these examples one can assess the role of a women, probably, a mother in developing the world attributes. In fact, it is the woman who rules the world in the form of a leader. Many important world figures acknowledged the importance of hands that rocks their cradle. Thus the William Ross Wallace was so right in describing the motherhood preeminent for the change in the world. He, in his poem, rightly gave the credit for all the great accomplishments of people to their mothers. According to him, it’s only the result of mother’s caring, guidance, and training that the world is passing through a period of humanity and success.
