0205110216 DETROIT FREE PRESS 020512 Sunday, May 12, 2002 METRO FINAL

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1E MITCH ALBOM FREE PRESS COLUMNIST Copyright (c) 2002, Detroit Free Press THANKS TO ALL MOTHERS WHO GIVE QUIET LOVE For all the mothers whose sons did not kill. For all the mothers whose sons did not steal. For all the mothers whose sons did not plant pipe bombs. For all the mothers whose sons did not rape. For all the mothers whose sons did not poison. For all the mothers whose sons did not abuse. For all the mothers whose sons did not create Internet viruses. For all the mothers whose sons did not need guns. For all the mothers whose sons did not shoot up a high school or fly into buildings or torture innocent civilians or send anthrax through the mail or strap themselves to bombs and blow themselves up. For all the mothers whose sons have grown into ethical people, who learned from their mothers to handle their problems without violence, without torture, without murder, without death . . . For all those mothers. We salute you. For those who don't have a staff For all the mothers whose names are not Madonna. For all the mothers whose names are not Nicole, Calista, Pamela Lee or Rosie. For all the mothers who never had a magazine cover. For all the mothers who do not have a staff. For all the mothers whose baby's pictures were not held before a TV camera or featured on the 11 o'clock news. For all the mothers who are not Celine Dion. For all the mothers who never got to tell an interviewer: "Motherhood is great. I take them to the movie set whenever I can." For all the mothers who didn't lose the weight. For all the mothers who never got thanked at the Oscars. For all the mothers who never screamed at their children on Jerry Springer, who never opened up to Barbara Walters, who never made a TV commercial with a football-playing son. For all the mothers who simply did what they had to do and got enough reward through the love of their kids, the crayon-colored birthday cards, the phone calls from college, the photos hanging on the refrigerator . . . For all those mothers. We salute you. For those who don't sue over earring For all the mothers who did not drown their children. For all the mothers who did not tie up their children. For all the mothers who never handed their babies to strangers. For all the mothers who stayed around. For all the mothers who did not sue a school system because their first-grader wanted to wear an earring. For all the mothers who do not use children as pawns in divorce. For all the mothers who did not lock the kids in the house while they went out to score dope. For all the mothers who did not send their 16-year-old sons to Yemen. For all the mothers who taught their sons that no religion condones killing innocent people. For all the mothers who know what their kids are building in the garage. For all the mothers who refuse to always blame the teacher. For all the mothers who have heard of the word "responsibility." For all the mothers who work thanklessly every day at the hardest role in the world, who recognize their children aren't perfect, who don't always assume it's someone else, who don't make excuses, who don't defend hurtful actions, who teach through love and attention and example and who, although they don't complain about it, never, ever get a single TV interview, a People magazine article or even a brief mention in a newspaper . . . You just got one. We salute you. And we thank you. Happy Mother's Day. Contact MITCH ALBOM at 313-223-4581 or albom@freepress.com. Catch "Albom in the Afternoon" 3-6 p.m. weekdays on WJR-AM (760). THIS ELECTRONIC VERSION MAY DIFFER SLIGHTLY FROM THE PRINTED ARTICLE. COLUMN