Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and

Hear now the words of Stevie Wonder, the poet of song and prophet of melody, who spoke with reverence of his mother: “Mama was my greatest teacher, a teacher of compassion, love and fearlessness. If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” In this saying lies the testimony of every child who has gazed upon their mother with awe, recognizing that beyond the lessons of the world, beyond the instruction of schools or sages, it is the mother’s heart that first teaches the eternal virtues.

For what is a teacher? The ancients declared that the greatest teacher is not the one who fills the mind with words, but the one who shapes the soul with virtues. And so the mother, by her very life, becomes the child’s first school. She teaches compassion through her care, when she bends to comfort and heal. She teaches love through her sacrifices, given without expectation of return. And she teaches fearlessness, for in protecting her child, she stands against poverty, hardship, and sorrow with unyielding strength. Stevie Wonder’s words shine as testimony: no scroll or philosopher gave him these truths—it was his mother.

The image of the flower deepens this truth. The flower is beauty, but it is also nourishment and fragrance; it is fragile, yet resilient against the winds of the earth. So too is the mother. She may appear gentle, but within her lies the resilience to endure hardship and bloom again. Her love is the fragrance that fills the home, her presence the beauty that softens life’s harsh edges. If love is sweet, then surely it finds its purest form in the mother’s blossom, whose petals are tenderness and whose roots are sacrifice.

History itself testifies to this truth. Consider the life of George Washington, the first leader of America. He said of his mother, Mary Ball Washington, that “all I am I owe to my mother.” She raised him in hardship, teaching him discipline, courage, and devotion. She was not a general, yet she forged the heart of one; not a scholar, yet she nurtured wisdom. She, too, was a flower of love, whose fragrance shaped the destiny of a nation. Stevie Wonder’s words echo the same eternal theme: that greatness is born first in the shadow of a mother’s sacrifice.

Even in the ancient world, the same lesson appears. The philosopher Seneca often praised the influence of mothers, reminding his students that their earliest understanding of virtue came not from books, but from the tenderness of those who raised them. For who first teaches a child to forgive, if not the one who forgives their stumbles? Who first teaches courage, if not the one who faces every storm to keep them safe? Thus we see that the mother’s role as teacher is older than temples, older than scrolls—it is woven into the very foundation of life.

The meaning of Wonder’s words is therefore clear: a mother’s love is not only affection, but instruction. It is not only comfort, but courage. It is not only beauty, but resilience. To call her the flower of love is to say that she embodies the essence of all that is good, all that is nurturing, all that is strong and life-giving. And though flowers fade with time, the seeds they drop endure forever, just as a mother’s lessons echo in the lives of her children long after her voice is silent.

The lesson is this: honor your mother as your first and greatest teacher. Do not forget that your compassion, your courage, your capacity to love are not yours alone, but gifts first planted in you by her hand. Live in a way that multiplies her teachings, so that her flower of love continues to bloom through your deeds.

Practical action flows easily from this truth. Speak gratitude to your mother if she still lives, and if she has passed, honor her by carrying her virtues into the world. Be compassionate as she was compassionate; be fearless as she was fearless; love as she loved. And when you teach your own children or those entrusted to you, remember that the greatest lessons are not spoken but lived—just as Stevie Wonder’s mother taught him, through the sweet, silent power of her example.

Thus let these words be carried forward: “If love is sweet as a flower, then my mother is that sweet flower of love.” For in every generation, it is the mother who plants the seeds of virtue, waters them with sacrifice, and blooms in the hearts of her children as an eternal blossom of life.