Eastbayri.com

BRISTOL — To the editor:

There’s magic in the world. When you fall in love, kiss for the first time, when a child is born, there is magic. A parent’s love is the greatest magic of all. On this Valentine’s Day it is the Christmas carol “Silent Night” that resonates with me. It’s the refrain — “mother and child, so tender and mild.”

Gold — most want it! But not a mother, in the shape of a star on a flag. It is a signature event to lose a child, a time of emotional rupture. Different uniforms don’t mean different people. Gold star mothers from all wars etched everything they are into our hearts. Their worries are a component of a mother’s love. The most well-documented part of her life was raising her child.

We walk through life, collecting the stories of the people around us. And eventually we form what we think is a complete photograph of who each person is and his or her life is like. At best, these photos we hold in our minds are never more than simple line drawings waiting to be filled in. These mothers are too remarkable, too inspiring, to ever forget. Wars do not displace love or memory. These mothers have a gift of eternal youth. They possess an amazing reservoir of vitality and love. The source of nourishment, the playmate always there, always at hand. The author of all blessings, the source of all joys. Without them, without their warmth, without their kindness, the world would be a considerably poorer place.

At the harvest time of our lives, there’s no fooling yourself with what you’ve done with your life. These mothers gave us their children, and they became our heroes. It’s our own faces we see when we gaze into theirs, for their pain is ours. We share a sadness too sad to be true. Is there a heaven? Maybe it’s just wishful thinking, nestled in a part of a person’s mind. Or maybe it’s the last stop in the vast design of things. Whatever it is, it comes with a mother’s love.

Spoken words grow dim with time; written words last forever. To the civic treasures who are our veterans, and their mothers, look inside to find your lost Valentine and you’ll bring the memories home. Tender hearts need a star to wish upon. S.W.A.K. (sealed with a kiss)!

Ronald Raposa

Bristol