“Mothers and their children are in a category all their own. There’s no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instantaneous and forgiving.”
― Gail Tsukiyama, Dreaming Water

I can’t count the number of times I’ve fallen and my mother has picked me back up; the number of times my mother has helped mend my wounds.

“I have faith in you,” my mother told me just the other day. I was talking about a book I wanted to write, telling my mother about the rejections I’d received this month from literary journals and about how I felt that talent might be just beyond my reach. My mother stopped me, took a deep breath, then said,  “I didn’t bring you into this world so you could hide from it. So…”

“So?” I asked.

“So, write your book.”

“But what if…”

“Just write.”

My mother spoke with such confidence about my abilities that it gave me confidence. I began writing the young adult novel that I’d wanted to write for years later that night. It’s still far from perfect, or done, but I’m not afraid anymore of writing it. And this is a big step, I think, letting go of the fear of falling, of failing.

The video below might be a commercial advertising a large corporation’s sponsorship of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, but it’s a commercial with heart, and highlights exactly the kind of strength and faith that mothers often, and hopefully, instill within their children.

If advertisements must exist, let them be like this one. Let them exist with a pulse and be inspirational and meaningful.

For all the mothers out there, and for all the men, women, mothers and non-mothers who’ve nurtured and loved others, and for my mother, this commercial is for you, all of you.

You truly are amazing.

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Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: elephant journal archives