[WASHINGTONPOST] Jennifer Grayson, an environmental journalist, is writing “Unlatched,” a book about the breastfeeding controversy.How’s this as a gesture of love for the woman who bore you? Chop off the reproductive organ of a plant and send it to her in a box tied up with a pretty bow.
No, it’s not a weird botanical twist on the van Gogh woo-a-girl-with-a-severed-ear legend. It is what millions of us (67 percent of those celebrating the holiday) will compulsorily do to mark Mother’s Day.
This year, we will spend a collective $2.4 billion to buy Mom flowers. I understand the appeal. I’m a mom of two little girls, and my heart melts anytime they surprise me with a handful of dirt-clumped dandelions from our back yard. But while giving flowers may seem like a good way to show how much you love your mom, it’s a terrible idea if you care about Mother Earth.
I can practically hear my mother-in-law sighing as I write this, and I can guess what you (no doubt on hold with 1-800-NOSEGAY right now) are about to ask: Wait, aren’t flowers natural? Why is this eco-zealot trying to take down the holiday?
Because when you're a dyed in the wool Lib there's always some reason why the things the rest of us do are yucky, even something as simple as sending flowers to your Mom, or putting flowers on her grave. So bite me, Jennifer Grayson.
Happy Mother's Day, ladies.