My late mother would have said, “Giving Tuesday should be every day.”

My mother Myra, of blessed memory, wore many titles: daughter, sister, wife, friend, mother, teacher (to the gifted and those with special needs), musician, activist, and armchair psychologist to many. She lost her own mother at nine years of age and drew the best from her peers’ mothers to create her own conglomerate of motherhood and what it truly means “to mother” – or said another way – to profoundly care. 

Though she created memorable birthdays for my two brothers and me, she had precious little patience for Hallmark holidays for the things that mattered most, like honoring parents, preferring to demonstrate and engender respect 365 days along the year. Ditto, her feelings regarding Human Rights Day.

She passed away long before Giving Tuesday was invented, so what do I think she would say to our deeply pained and sorely troubled world in this defining moment? 

It’s long overdue to start relating to one another as one human family and give every day to make this one precious world a better place for all of us.

Almost twenty-five years ago, she attended the very first Genesis at the Crossroads’ event at the Chicago Cultural Center and tragically left this earth shortly thereafter. The values she instilled in me live on in Genesis’ peacebuilding work and my leadership to create its programs and to continue to direct and expand them, no matter the daunting circumstances and seemingly insurmountable challenges in our world, ones that only make Genesis’ work even more timely and important. 

She was one of the wisest women I have ever known. 

Please join me in heeding her wisdom.

Download our 2025 newsletter to see our work over the past 25 years and where we are headed.