What Did Your Mother Pass Down To You?

Competition Topic — What did your mother pass down to you?

Pain. Pain that allowed me to think and be different from her. Pain that taught me the value of life and living. Pain that became my teacher. Pain that made me stronger. Pain showed me how strong I was. Pain helped me to survive hell.

Imagine having a mother who couldn’t love you? What can she teach you? What memories can she leave you with? How would you remember her? How do children live and survive not knowing or experiencing the love of a mother?

What my mother passed down to her children was Pain!

Women are born with a fighting spirit. Poverty strengthens it. Knowing ourselves at an early age strengthens us emotionally, psychologically, mentally, spiritually, and in other ways. Because if you know yourself, then no one can tell you who you are. Being aware also strengthens us. Knowing our world, life, living, and the people also makes us stronger. So, with all of that strength, we have the power to change what fate and destiny hand us at birth, to live the life we want for ourselves and our generation.

All of the cruelty and thoughtlessness done to me as a child didn’t affect me negatively. It didn’t break me down. It didn’t take control of me, my life, or my emotions. It gave me the strength to learn from my pain and process it in a different direction — one thing my mother couldn’t see or do. The pain of hunger demands that I use innovation and creativity to feed myself. So, I learned to cook early. I also did Home Economics in high school. The pain of being deprived of the basics and of my dreams demands that I learn money management and think economically.

The pain of poverty demands I change the direction fate and destiny handed my mother, which she painfully passed on to her children. I don’t regret her or what she did or lived. How she lived, and the things she did, taught me about life and living. The pain that she passed down gave me the power to make sensible life decisions that taught me vital life lessons I couldn’t learn anywhere else. She passed down a weapon that I used as a tool. Poverty is a painful weapon. It’s how it’s used that makes it a tool.

What she passed down taught me the difference between love and hate. Kindness and cruelty. Good and evil. Pain and pleasure. Life and death. This gave me the power to make the right life decisions, not only for myself but also for my future. I was aware that imitating her life and lifestyle would give me the power to self-destruct. Her life and decisions were packed with pain. I don’t like pain. So, I did the opposite of everything she did. Pain is a part of life, but the ones that visit me bring vital life lessons.

Every parent passed something down to their children. It’s what we do with it that makes it valuable and worthwhile.

This image is the kind of pain my mother passed down.

I used the pain she passed down positively to heal and help improve myself and my life, making better decisions for my generation.

This is what I turned it into. Yes. I am from the rock. No matter where the pain of life throws me, I grow! Survive! Live! — Annelise Lords

What did you do with what was passed down to you by your mother?

Did it heal and help? Or did it hinder and harm?

Thank you for reading this piece. I hope you enjoyed it.