Florida Senate - 2011                             (NP)    SR 114
       
       
       
       By Senator Bullard
       
       
       
       
       39-00032-11                                            2011114__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution expressing gratitude and affection to all
    3         mothers.
    4  
    5         WHEREAS, Anne Jarvis, a young Appalachian homemaker,
    6  organized women throughout the Civil War to work for better
    7  sanitation conditions, and in 1868 continued her efforts by
    8  designating “Mothers’ Work Days” for improving sanitation, and
    9         WHEREAS, Social Activist Julia Ward Howe, Boston poet,
   10  pacifist, suffragist, and author of the lyrics to the “Battle
   11  Hymn of the Republic,” influenced by Anne Jarvis’s sanitation
   12  initiative, conceived the idea during the Civil War of calling
   13  all women to unite against the war, organized a day encouraging
   14  mothers to rally for peace, and wrote a Mother’s Day
   15  proclamation in 1870 calling for peace and disarmament, and
   16         WHEREAS, Julia Ward Howe failed to obtain formal
   17  recognition of a Mother’s Day for Peace, and after Anne Jarvis’s
   18  passing on May 9, 1905, her daughter Anna Jarvis took up the
   19  efforts to establish a day recognizing mothers, and
   20         WHEREAS, as a result of Anna Jarvis’s crusade, the first
   21  Mother’s Day was celebrated in Grafton, West Virginia, on May
   22  10, 1908, to commemorate the anniversary of her mother’s
   23  passing, and
   24         WHEREAS, the Mother’s Day custom eventually spread to 45
   25  other states, and President Woodrow Wilson declared the first
   26  national Mother’s Day on May 14, 1914, and
   27         WHEREAS, the highest ideals and noblest principles of
   28  humanity find their most exemplary expression in the sacrifice
   29  and devotion of mothers, and no sincere human being can deny the
   30  importance of a mother in the life of a child, and
   31         WHEREAS, mothers exemplify enduring courage and conviction,
   32  are characterized by unconditional love for their children, and
   33  serve as the anchors that bond families, and
   34         WHEREAS, a mother is a gift bestowed on man, never more
   35  dear than when bringing forth life in the form of a child, and
   36         WHEREAS, it is proper that the members and staff of the
   37  Florida Senate recognize the great debt of gratitude owed to all
   38  mothers for their strength, guidance, understanding, and love,
   39  NOW, THEREFORE,
   40  
   41  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   42  
   43         That the members of the Senate do hereby express to their
   44  own mothers and to all mothers, on behalf of the people of the
   45  State of Florida, personal affection and heartfelt gratitude.
   46         BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this resolution be spread upon
   47  the Journal of the Senate as a tangible token of the love and
   48  respect that the members hold for all mothers.