Time to stop celebrating mothers' sacrifice

Mother's Day has come and gone, and with it the usual hymns of praise to these otherwise unsung heroes of our society.

On this one day, our appreciation seems to know no bounds. In a taxi on Sunday, I listened to one local radio channel narrate tales of how Beijingers celebrated Mother's Day.

One told of a young mother's surprise when she got on a bus that day. The conductor handed her one-year-old son a purple carnation and told him to give it to his mother. The young mother acknowledged that her boy was probably too young to understand what was going on, but he was obviously happy when he saw smiles on his mother and on everyone else on the bus.