Being a single mother is challenging, but embrace it
Try US for crimes against humanity
IT IS normally said that a house needs a father figure. Most mothers find themselves faced with a huge task of raising children on their own simply because the fathers have neglected their responsibilities.
This comes with lots of difficulties as, at some point, the children need their father’s guidance, protection and provision. Being a single mother has emotional and financial complications.
As the children grow, they sometimes become uncontrollable due to issues such as adolescence and their new approach to life.
This may prove a difficult mission for the mother who will find it difficult to provide the necessary guidance and financial support to the children, and may result in stress and depression.
But on the other hand, there are some positives to take from this situation. There are single mothers who are capable of developing that “fatherhood” attitude and responsibility.
The advantage of being a single mother may be that you will feel the need to take care of your children, love them unconditionally and provide for them, because you know that you are the only parent they have.
It also gives you, a single mother, the strength to be tolerant, innovative and responsible because you do not want to let your children down.
This way, the children will draw inspiration from you, knowing that you have survived against all odds.
And you will end up raising responsible men and women, thus building a better society.
eManyeleti, Mpumalanga
WRITE TO US
PETER Stiff ’s justification of the US unloading the atom bomb incinerating Japanese civilians contradicts the view of many historians dismissing it as sheer propaganda and a shameful cover-up for the US’s grotesque crime (“Can the bombs be justified?” The Star, August 20).
Former president Nelson Mandela, with extraordinary prescience, stated: “If there is a country that has committed unspeakable atrocities in the world, it is the US. They don’t care for human beings.”
The dropping of the atomic bombs by America killing over 250 000 civilians in Hiroshima and Nagasaki 70 years ago attests to the accuracy of this statement. Millions of others suffered for decades.
In a radio address on August 9, 1945, US President Harry Truman deceived the American people claiming that the first atomic bomb targeted a military base to avoid killing civilians.
Most virulent expressions of race hatred were put in his diary, calling the Japanese “savages”, “ruthless”, “merciless” and “fanatic” people so loyal to the emperor that every man, woman and child would fight to the bitter end.
American media magazines depicted Japanese as monkeys, apes, insects and vermin, and military officers openly stated: “The only good Jap is a Jap who’s been dead six months.”
These bombs were not dropped to bring an end to World War II, as Peter Stiff would have us believe. Many reputable historians assert that the Japanese were already defeated and ready to surrender before the carpet bombing of Tokyo, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They were used on the Japanese people to terrorise the rest of the world, introducing the US as the new imperial power. Since World War II, the US has intervened in over 70 nations, strengthening its hegemonic grip upon the whole world.
Imperial powers not only require control over vital economic resources, they must also demonstrate their power and might as an end in itself. The US spends at least $100 billion (R1.2 trillion) a year on over 800 bases conducting training and exercises.
The US economy, geared towards arms production and arms sales, creating employment for about 20 percent of jobs in the US, will ensure the continuity of conflicts throughout the world. The so-called “Cold War” period involved over 200 hot wars, killing millions of civilians in the developing countries, including Korea (1950s), Vietnam (1960s), Mozambique and Angola (1980s), Latin America and the Muslim East.
The victims of imperial America’s record of war and violence in pursuit of dominance are overwhelmingly civilian. What is needed is a leader of the calibre of Nelson Mandela with the courage to speak truth to power, and an independent international institution to try them for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Executive member of Media Review Network