Paper Towel Rolls and Basic Human Rights

Life is hectic…especially as a working mom.  We have small events, major events, and world events to keep up with.  This past week, I faced extra responsibilities at work and home.  My husband has been working day and night, so the “extras” have fallen on my plate.  Extras like finding an empty shoe box for my son’s Valentine’s Day.  Plus, cards, candy and a paper towel roll for his upcoming class party.  My son, Tyler, has a student teacher at school named Mrs. Adams for the next few weeks, so the reminder notes sent home are a little different.  I try to take this in stride. 

I dump out the tax receipts my husband is saving and confiscate the shoe box.  I wheel off paper towels until it’s bare and rip off the roll.  I search for the cards I bought a week ago and find them.  And the candy was “optional” so I’m opting out (since I completely forgot to get those…oops.) 

I have all these things in my arms and lay them in front of my oblivious son, who is chomping on toast and watching “Tom and Jerry” on television.  He looks up and nonchalantly surveys my pile.    “Mom, I don’t need a paper towel roll,” he states matter-of-factly.  “The teacher made a mistake.  She said she does not need those.”  I am sure that the note said he needed a paper towel roll.  “Are you sure?  The note said you needed paper towel holders,” I ask unconvinced.  He shakes his head still chomping.  “No.  She said today she was wrong.”  I try to compromise, “Do you want to take it in your backpack just in case she needs them?”  I’m thinking of the pile of paper towels I just unwound and don’t want my efforts to go unneeded.  He is taking this paper towel roll come hell or high water.  “No, mom…” he sighs like I’m the child who isn’t listening… “Mrs. Adams doesn’t need them.”  So, I fling the paper towel roll in the trash and make him start signing Valentine’s cards.  You have to pick your battles.

Later that night, when I finally get him to bed and myself to bed and turn on the news… I am exhausted.  Twenty-two cards he had to sign his five-letter name to, and he acted like it was the end of the world. 

I am half watching the news and half reading my Kindle trying to wind down.  They are talking about Egypt again.  I dumbly ask my husband, who is still working, “What’s going on in Egypt?”  He turns to me incredulously, “Are you serious?  Where have you been the past week?”  He acts like I just crawled out of a dark hole and asked why the earth was round or something.  “Yes, I’m serious!  I haven’t been watching the news…” I explain out loud, but to myself scream … “BECAUSE I’VE BEEN TAKING CARE OF PAPER TOWEL ROLLS!!!!”

Now I’m on a mission.  I have to read every article and watch every commentary on Cairo.  This is an historical event, and I have to know about it.  But, really I just want to the crux of the story.  Why is everyone talking about it?  Why is it so important?  What are the ramifications?  This story didn’t interest me before because it didn’t seem to have a point.  I just heard about chaos and crowds gathering in a square of some kind. 

But, as I do my research, it becomes more interesting.  It is more than an uprising.  It is about a new generation of young people wanting their freedoms and liberties from a regime that has controlled them and their country.  They see their opportunity and use their unity of purpose to defy the dictatorship regime.  They want what the free world has – the right to choose.   And their will, purpose and passion prevail.  Mubarak stepped down.  Now, they have a chance to remake history and choose a leader who upholds their values of individuality, freedom, and choice.  Pretty amazing.  I guess I do need to watch the news more often. 

But, sometimes when work and home responsibilities fill your plate you have little room for world events and there long term meaning to the world you are living in.  You are in the middle of the forest and forget to see what all these trees are.  They are a forest that we should step back and take a look at.

My teacher used to say, “Look at the forest before you look at all the trees.”  She was right.  Why are we doing what we are doing?  Because we stand for something, and we want our children to stand for something.  We stand for freedom and the right to be oneself.  We stand for what the young people in Egypt are standing for right now.   The reason I do all these things for my son is because I want him to grow up as a capable and confident individual who believes in himself, his ability to change the world, and his right to exercise his freedom of speech and will.    

As working women and mothers, we have these rights too.  We have the ability to change the world and exercise our freedom of speech.  We should be confident in ourselves and the things we accomplish.  As we raise a generation of leaders, we should be encouraged by events in Cairo that we are on the right path and raising the right type of leaders.  But, we should also realize that we are these types of leaders.  We plant the seeds of freedom in our children and watch them grow into amazing individuals.

My son’s Valentine’s party and Egypt’s generational uprising are two types of organized events that have one thing in common – the people involved are passionate about what they believe in.  Whether it’s paper towel rolls for a classroom craft or basic human rights for a repressed nation, the underlying theme is individuality and freedom of expression.  I am happy to witness both.