Respect for the workman!

Last night when I was doing the dishes, my grandma said something. She said that they

name a boy who does the dishes “kancha” in India. After she said that the whole family went laughing. I couldn't see the funny part in the whole joke. But one thing was certain; the joke was made in my expense.

I did not get offended because I was made fun of by the whole family. I was rather offended because even my old grandmother who had been doing the same for the family her whole life could not appreciate the value of the work. It was the matter of laughter for her and the family for a work which is called demeaning but is essential. After moments like these I question the upbringing of my family and society and sometimes I question them. Who are they to question me when they cannot accept society themselves?

Our society cannot accept our society. It’s true. How? See in our society jobs such as cleaning, plumbing and sweeping are called menial jobs. The meaning of that is no respect for the people who do these jobs. Yet these jobs are so essential, if somebody stopped doing these jobs then our life would be unbearable. An example would be the strike by sweepers of Kathmandu Valley few years ago. We were in our knees that time. Still after realizing this fact many times our society condemns the people and marks them of lower status.

The biggest argument society has for these people are that “anyone can do that”. Yes that may be true but anyone cannot do the same efficiently. The people like plumbers, sweepers and cleaners are experts on their fields like scientists, doctors and engineers. These experts build bases for intellectuals to create or design. If the amount of impact of creation of new ideas goes then yes the intellectuals are ahead. But if we question sustainability then we can certainly say that the people who do the so called odd jobs are of far greater importance.

So this brings up the debate of sustainability versus creation. This debate has been going on for a long time and shall go on longer. The core idea of respecting the workman lies in understanding effort of a working class and the debate between sustainability versus creation. Understanding will help us be a better society. This will make us understand the value of working instead of the possessions that we posses. These possessions may last a lifetime but the work that one does lasts an eternity.

That is the whole argument I am making; respect the working class and they will respect us. In turn they shall provide efficient service and we can be proud to have a peaceful and prosperous society. But then again I am talking about society and you never know with society what might go wrong.