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Being Our Best Selves & Being Better to Others For Mother’s Day
“I am sure that if the mothers of various nations could meet, there would be no more wars.”
—E. M. Forster
And wouldn’t that be wonderful?
When I first became a mom, I realized how much work it was just to keep a tiny human alive. I had taken for granted all that my mom had done to raise me to be a good person with strong and positive values.
My mom has been a Scientologist my whole life. She always had friends of other faiths and backgrounds, and she would discuss with me how tolerance of others’ religions was integral to Scientology and to our family and culture.
I know that—with nothing else—mothers alone could accomplish this evolution in just a generation or two.
When I was a teen, I told my mom I wanted to look into and study other religions before I made up my mind about Scientology. She encouraged me to go find out about these other faiths, and even offered to help me do it.
After exploring many religions, I decided to be a Scientologist. It was then that I learned just how much tolerance and respecting the religious beliefs of others were integral components in what had now become my religion—they are ideas repeated across the Creed of the Church of Scientology and the religion’s codes and scriptures. In this way, studying my own religion helped me become more tolerant and understanding of people of all faiths. And there is a very good reason to be: We’re all in this together!
My ability to communicate and find common ground with others of every faith is something I am very proud of and something that I learned through my studies in Scientology and my mother’s brilliant example. I am forever grateful to her for that.
From time to time, I think about the bigotry I have faced as a Scientologist. I have had people yell at me on the street. I have had people refuse to talk to me, and others who rabidly spew their poison in my face and in front of my peers and colleagues.
I think about my son, and how I want to raise him in a world without bigotry and without the danger of being abused or assaulted because of his religious views.
And I know that—with nothing else—mothers alone could accomplish this evolution in just a generation or two. Like my own mother, I do my part today to show my son that we can work with—and love and respect—people of all faiths. Setting that kind of example for our children would go a long way toward creating a society we all could be proud of.
And what, after all, would make our mothers happier on Mother’s Day than to have us all go out into the world, be our very best selves and be that much better to others?
