In any office cafeteria in today’s day and age, there would be flocks of people coming in and going out during lunchtime. They would come in groups or alone, sit at some tables, have their lunch, and go back. There’s nothing unusual in this. But there would be a bunch of folks who would clean up the table after a set of people are done with their lunch before the next set comes in. Normally, it should be the people themselves who should clean up after they have done eating but that might be too hoity-toity for many of us privileged junta.
Now, this kind of job doesn’t get the romanticism it might deserve. It is not the job of a healthcare worker. Or it is not a farmer’s job. It is not a job of an Army Veteran. And it is not even the job for the proper Municipality. But even then, this job is just as important as any other job which helps people to not worry about the place they eat and not notice the cleanup going around in the background. How’s that job not as important as a daily wage worker plowing fields for a rich landowner who owns acres worth of fields and is still called a Farmer?
In India, Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan is considered a very important slogan. It definitely is. We cannot undermine the contribution of the defense forces, and the farmers and praise them enough. But how is any other job which is meant to serve the common people any lesser? If it is not lesser, why some professions get more than enough respect while others simply don’t. After all, everyone is earning money for their profession. Some professions are chosen because of passion. Mostly they are just chosen, or available to earn the livelihood. What you and I do, shouldn’t be considered any less important if even a single penny from your salary goes to build the nation and the society, if you are working with integrity and honesty.
The only profession which should respect more than others, I feel, is the profession of cleaning staff. There are several nurses cleaning up your wounds, hospital staff cleaning your blood and other wastes, municipal workers who delve their hands in segregating wet and dry waste, and so on who do the dirty job of cleaning. Any other profession is just a business and should be subjected as any other business should.
