Good Night, 'Mother'

"I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to
create many ripples."
— Mother Teresa

When Elizabeth Ford cast a stone across the water a little more than 30 years ago, she probably didn’t know that it would ripple for decades to come and affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of alcoholics and addicts and their families and friends.

Betty Ford had the guts to tell the world about her disease. And she had the love and compassion to put her name and resources behind the treatment facility that bears her name.

Treatment for her fellow alcoholics and addicts who were her friends even though she might not ever have met them. Treatment for the families of those affected by our disease. Treatment to prevent the disease from reaching its ultimate goal: death to the alcoholic.

Those of us fortunate enough to have been patients at the Betty Ford Center often give the Center and Mrs. Ford credit for saving our lives. It gave us a new life. But it also gave our families their mothers and fathers back. It made us better brothers and sisters. Better employers. Better workers. Better neighbors. Better citizens.
Better human beings. Bishop Desmond Tutu “The sea is made up of drops of
water..so each little bit of good we do make a difference ... ” Imagine all the
drops of water in the sea that was Mrs. Ford’s life?

The Ford family refers to Mrs. Ford as “Mother.” So thank you Mother for my life and for the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people you touched. It’s those acts of kindness and love you did that, put together, overwhelm the world. Your spirit lives on in each one of us.

You are  a thousand winds that blow.

The diamond glints on snow.

The sunlight on ripened grain.

The gentle autumn’s rain.

When we awaken in the morning’s hush you are the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

You are the soft stars... that shine at night.

Good night, Mother.