Mother’s Son
Bicky Kiessel wrote to his uncle, a World War I veteran, about his experiences in the Italian campaign. He said, “I’ve been bombed, strafed, shelled, chased by tanks, sniped at, machine gunned and everything imaginable and some not. I got knocked about, bruised and scraped but never directly hit.”236 He saw a lot of action, but found some of his most difficult times waiting and thinking:
The idle period of waiting is nerve wracking. Everything is ready, there is just the period of absolutely nothing to do…You think a lot about the past. People you know or knew and last associations, of home, though not about big things but a lot of silly little trifles or remembrances pop into mind and if you were to stop and figure out “why?” you probably would never know. Thoughts that are precious, moments unreturnable flash past. We are different men since we have been fighting. To a great extent, unfortunately, we have lost our sensitiveness, there is a cold calculating air. We have gone through and experienced what men should not. But at times like these we are mother’s sons once more.237
This is a great picture to keep in mind when dealing with other people. That other person, no matter how unattractive or unappreciative, is in fact some mother’s son or daughter. That person may have different problems or even values than our own, but in most cases started out just as we did. A mother and/or a father loved them and had high hopes for them. This is even truer of our heavenly Father, who created every human being and loves us all as his own children. He may not like what we are doing at any moment, but he nevertheless has provided for the salvation of every soul. When we deal with others, we need this perspective. Instead of focusing on the differences, we should see first our common bonds as children of God.
Did not he who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same one form us both within our mothers?
—Job 31:15