In life, everyone is fighting a battle of their own, a battle to protect, to defend or to defeat. In other words, everyone is fighting a battle to survive; and it is a battle that the other may never understand. There are the farmers in the fields, laboring day and night despite the rain, the sun or the storm, to produce and supply for their family; the housewife, doing everything in her power to maintain the family. There are the teachers, the lecturers, the professors who prepare and teach in their respective educational institutions, so as to earn and supply for their family even as they impart knowledge to students. And there are the doctors, the engineers and every working person on this planet, fighting daily for their survivors; easy for some, difficult for others and unbearable for many. In other words, everyone labours through the day to provide for their family and to survive. And regardless of the level of work or employment or the labour, the end result all seems to be the same. But the sad truth is that, despite the fight for equality of labour and the dignity for it, there seems to exist a social evil in the society and that is the value and dignity of labour depending on what one does.
The sad truth about the world despite the call and fight for equality in all aspects and dignity of all is that, we live in a society obsessed with ranks, positions, educational degrees and the likes that one usually tends to look down on or ignore those they consider in the lower ranks. Hence, came the existence of White collar jobs, Pink collar jobs and the blue collar jobs wherein those with White Collar Jobs are considered more professional and hence, above the other two where the Blue collar jobs are those skilled or unskilled labourers who are mostly into manual labour works. And this is where we lose the dignity of labor or job.
There are many observances to honour the labourers and the working classes. But even as the world observes May Day or the International Workers’ Day, the sad truth is the inequality of labour or the loss of dignity of labour where manual, daily labourers are looked down and discriminated against. They are considered the lowest in the society like the Shudras of the Indian caste system. In the Indian caste system, one learns of Brahmins (priestly people and at the top of the society), the Kshatriyas (also called Rajanyas, who were rulers, administrators and warriors and were ranked second in society), the Vaishyas (artisans, merchants, tradesmen and farmers coming in the third), and Shudras (labouring classes, the lowest in the society). And considering how daily wage and manual labourers are viewed today, nothing seems to have changed in the Indian working society. Many still think that White Collar jobs are the most important while the Blue collar jobs are not.
So, in a society obsessed with high ranking jobs where they are looked down upon, where do the labourers stand? And what is the use of observing International Workers’ Day year after year if one does not change their mentality towards the dignity of laborers or the working class society. And as much as a servant of the Indian Administrative Service is important to the country, so is the farmer laboring in his field to produce crops for the family. As much as a doctor is important for the health of the society, so is the hospital sweeper’s duty. Every job, every work has its importance for the society and hence, it is important that the dignity of labor is important too.
