The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world (HZH)

The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world

It does not matter where people live or what kind of ethnic group they are. People all over the world have at least one in common with other people. It is that they all have mothers who gave birth to them. Mother is like a place where a river rises. No one is born without her. From the highest authority to the layman, no one is escaped from the greatest gratitude of mothers. Besides, mothers are the persons who keep in closer touch with their children than everyone including fathers. As a result, how a child will live in the future depends mainly on his or her mother. Mothers are the very first teachers who teach informally how to eat, how to talk, how to walk, how to behave and every basic manners to their children since the formative years of their children. In addition, children themselves imitate the way their mothers talk, behave, think and interact with others. Therefore, it is mother who can mould a child into a good or bad person as well as a successful person or a failure. It is like a fountain from which its streamlets stream.

In the poem, ‘the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world’, which was composed by William Rose Wallace (1819-1881), he composed; 

“Infancy’s the tender fountain

Power may with beauty flow,

Mother first to guide the streamlets,

From them souls unresting grow —

Grow on for the good or evil hurled,

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.”

It is obviously clear that mother can mould a child’s life into a good or evil one. There are lots of evidences to prove that. In a Burmese story, there once lived a thief who burgled other people’s houses and stole their properties. One day he burgled the King’s palace and stole his jewelry. However, he was caught by the King’s soldiers and finally he was sentenced to death. On the way to the place where he was about to be killed, the thief requested the King to let him meet his mother as the last chance. The King thought for a while and made up his mind to take his mother and allow him to meet her. When his mother arrived in front of him, the thief told her to come closer to him and bit her ear instead of saying something as his mother had thought. To make a long story short, the thief believed that he became such a thief who dare steal even the King’s properties because his mother ignored minor cases of stealing which he did in his childhood instead of punishing him to stop it. This story highlights how much a mother influences her child. Even her minor ignorance can end a child’s life with a terrible ending.

On the contrary, there are many evidences in which children become successful owing to their mothers’ incredible guidance. One of the best examples is Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s success, which started under the systematic control and guidance of Daw Khin Kyi, her mother. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, our State Counsellor, had to grow up only under her mother’s guidance because her father, General Aung San, was assassinated when she was only a two-year-old girl. Therefore, she had to depend only on her mother for all. It is sure that her mother’s behavior influenced her a lot. Since Daw Khin Kyi was an incredible and ideal woman, her daughter becomes a worldwide famous leader and gets admired by people all over the world. This highlights a mother’s importance and the idea that the hand that rocks the cradle can rule the world.

As William Rose Wallace composed in the last verse of his poem, ‘the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world’;

“Blessings on the hand of women!

Fathers, sons, and daughters cry,

And the sacred song is mingled

With the worship in the sky—

Mingles where no tempest darkens,

Rainbows evenmore are hurled;

For the hand that rocks the cradle

Is the hand that rules the world.”

It is obviously true that mother is the key person to mould a child into a good or evil person in the future. Mother themselves need to realize their importance. Besides, they need to try their best to guide their children as an ideal person. They need to be knowledgeable and have to read lots of books in order to put their children on the right track. As William R. Wallace composed, it is mother who can make a child’s life bright like sunshine or a rainbow. Moreover, it is mother who can make a child’s life darken with tempest. All things to be considered, every mother should realize their importance for a child’s future and need to try best to become ideal persons for their children because the hand that rocks the cradle can rule the world.

Htet Zaw Htoo (SUOE)