Speech on Labour Day for Children
A very good morning to everyone present here. On this auspicious day today, I am going to speak on Labour Day which is also known as the International Workers Day which is celebrated on the first day of May each year.
It is a matter of great honour for me to have been chosen to deliver the speech in front of my esteemed teachers and my loving friends and classmates. I humbly request your attention and beg your pardon for any mistakes that will be made if at all. Please feel free to correct me wherever I am wrong. I am open to suggestions.
Before I speak on this topic of labour day, it would be unjust for me if I do not explain to you all about the history behind this day. For millions of workers around the world, 1st May is their day. In the late 19th century, American labour unions were fed up as they were doing over work in dangerous conditions and with little pay.
As a result of this in the year 1884, the Federation of organized trade and Labour unions made in Chicago and kept certain demands one of which was an 8-hour workday.
Eventually on 1st of May 1886, more than 300000 American workers went on strike. 3 days later they organized in a Marketplace to protest and while protesting a riot broke out between the workers and the police men.
That it so blatantly oppressed the people that it could clearly be observed in the way the police reacted that day throwing live bombs at the protesting ground in broad daylight.
Several people died in this bomb blast. Since the entire incident took place in Haymarket square, it is remembered today as the Haymarket Massacre. Since that day, 1st of May is known as the international workers day or the international labour day.
Many countries however have different labour days of their own with different history behind the day. In India the labour day celebrated on 1st of May and it is usually a public holiday.
All-important institutions including schools, colleges and government offices are closed on that day in order to commemorate the contribution of the workers in our society.
Liberty is usually celebrated in order to acknowledge the importance of the lower grade working class syllabus of our society who do not have a white-collar job. These are usually the people who are looked down upon by the society and are frowned upon by everyone everywhere.
This is not fair. First of all, the problem is in the formation of human society and human psychology plays a very important role here. The social communities formed by human beings extremely class based and hierarchical.
In this scenario of extreme stereotyping, it is very obvious that the workers and laborers I looked as people belonging to lower strata of the society.
However, is it really so? Do these people deserve to be frowned upon? The answer is an absolute no. These people who are mostly the working class are extremely essential workforce in the development of a progressive society. No matter how big plans we sketch up in our minds and on pen and paper it is these workers who turn our thoughts into reality.
Let me explain this thing to you with the help of a rather humorous incident. In the year 1962, the president of United States John F Kennedy, once visited the NASA space Research Centre. While his tour of the entire premises of the place, he came across a janitor, with a Broom in his hand walking past him. He asked him what was he doing over there.
And the janitor promptly replied that he was helping put a man on the moon. This might seem to be just a very insignificant incident but it reveals a lot about the importance of workers specially the working-class laborer’s in our daily lives.
The most people the janitor was just a person cleaning the place, however if you look it from a broader perspective we will find that he was also responsible, no matter how small his role was, for putting Neil Armstrong on the moon. There’s a great Life lesson that we can learn from this incident.
No matter how big or small a person’s role of job is, he is always a crucial part of the entire system. Without him the system can fail.
The situation is similar to a deck of cards when arranged on top of another to form a castle. No matter how a card is placed or where it is placed it shatters even by a little movement of any card destroying the entire structure.
I would like to conclude by saying that the international labour day must be celebrated with acknowledgement and a sense of gratefulness to the laborers who are responsible for the smooth running of our daily lives.
