Meditation

First, consider the Buddha, who tells us that life is suffering. We seek to end suffering. Enlightenment -- freedom from desire -- is the end of suffering.

From the first moment she heard these words, the Matron believed them.

Recently, she has taken note of how new mothers describe their children. She won't repeat the descriptors. You know them. A mix of wonder, luck and eternity.

Pair these two concepts - mother love and suffering.

Wait. Before pairing mother love and suffering, let the Matron posit that 'mother's love' is commonly understood within one of two spectrums (or both): securing life's bounty for a child and/or luxuriating in the magnitude of a child's very existence. You want everything in the world for your child and/or experience pure joy because your child just - exists.

What if mother love, though, can be boiled down to Buddha's goal: the end of suffering. What is suffering? Need, unmet. Need for food, water, love, touch. No witness will ever refute that absence of these necessities results in suffering (to a greater or lesser degree).

But entry into a particular college, landing the lead role, getting the commercial, nailing the test, looking pretty or being strong -- moving into the land of desire and ambition, suffering is rooted more firmly in the land of the psyche and the limitations of the physical and social world.

What mother must bear witness to her child's suffering?

Every, single one.