The horrific sacrifice Emmett Till and his mother made is something no family should have to make, no child or parent. But that sacrifice has also served as a beacon to the country for tolerance and acceptance.

And here she was. Lying on the floor of a dusty, empty, locked room thinking how grateful she felt.

She smiled, though it hurt tremendously to do so, thinking how blessed she had been to have spent twelve years with the most precious gifts from God. She felt honored that they called her mother. She knew she had done the best she could teaching them about life and love, faith and family.

Margo lay slowly dying from the wounds inflicted by a monster, but she was at peace. Because though the devil meant it for evil, God turned it to good.

In order for the commission to truly achieve its mission, it must be inclusive not exclusive and respectfully and constructively bring together people of different backgrounds and voices to solve our differences.

The commission is all about identifying and eliminating discrimination and hate-based violence, whether it's religious, racial, gender, sexual orientation or ethnic or cultural bias. Intolerance of any kind is wrong. We'll be working to change policies as well.

With the gentle force of their words, the dogged warmth of their embrace, and the assuring touch of souls softly bared, mothers are silently shaping whole societies and authoring entire cultures that sit poised on the horizon of the future. And although we ignorantly relegate such roles to some lower caste status, we would be wise to understand that the role of a mother sets the cadence of the future.

Being a mother is not about ‘birthing a child into the world.’ Rather, it is about repeatedly ‘birthing into the child’ a steady sense of their inestimable worth, a prized understanding of their authentic self, a conviction that the impossible is largely the stuff of myth, and an utterly unwavering belief that the cold actions of men never represent the warm heart of God. It is the relentless act of birthing these things into the innermost soul of a thirsty child that makes a woman a mother.