A nation that doesn’t give importance to the Dignity of labour cannot prosper. The dignity of labour means that all occupations, whether involving intellect or physical labour, deserves equal respect and dignity. No job should be considered superior or inferior. Every job that is dutifully done with honesty and sincerity deserves appreciation.
All forms of work, manual or intellectual, are called labour. A clerk works in the office. A teacher teaches students at school. A doctor practices medicine. A lawyer practices law. The work of all these men is mainly brain work. A cultivator works in the field. A miner works in the mine. An artisan works in a factory. Their work requires bodily labour. When we say that the work of the cultivators, miners, artisans, etc, is as respectable as the work of the clerk, the teacher, the doctor, and the lawyer, we mean there is dignity of labour.
A nation cannot prosper materially if the people are not laborious. Labour is at the source of the power of the nation. A nation that cannot work hard, nation that does not respect the dignity of manual labour lags behind the progressive nations. After the industrial revolution, the people of Europe learnt to work with tools and machines. The material prosperity of a country depends on the progress of its agriculture, industry and trade.
Ordinary labourers work in the fields, mines, mills, factories, hotels, hospitals, homes and other places. Their labour leads to the prosperity and power of the country. Thus work is power. For this reason, manual labour must be respected and given importance it merits.
Our education system helped us to become clerks, teachers, lawyers, doctors and engineers. Some educated feel it beneath their dignity to work with tools and machines. They do not look upon cultivators, artisans, traders and ordinary labour with respect. This is utterly wrong. No work is less important than the other. When the economic condition of our country became serious, all educated men could not get service. So there arose the problem of unemployment. Pressed by economic difficulties, educated young men were forced to change their outlook. Some were ready to work as labourers with tools and machines. But there was not enough opening for them.
The outlook of the present generation of educated people is changing, and they have begun acknowledging the significance of manual labour. A large number of educated men and women now, do not hesitate to do all sorts of laborious work.
An ordinary labourer without education is better than an idle educated man because he earns his bread with the sweat of his brow. His work is as sacred as to worship God. There can be no proper development in agriculture and industry, trades and commerce in our country without stressing on the dignity of manual labour.
Manual labour is beneficial in other respects, too. It keeps us physically fit, and fosters a spirit of industry, self-help and manliness and thereby helps moral growth.
Moreover, our hands are for work. If we do not use them, we are surely guilty of neglecting one of the highest blessings of God. And nothing can be more shameful than to waste such blessing.
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