No work is big or small, clean or dirty. All work is equal and worthy of respect. This is called dignity of labor.

What would happen if there were no one clean the streets and empty the garbage? There would be dirt and flies all around.

Community helpers such as sweepers, toilets –cleaners and ragpikers help us in keeping our environment clean. They give essential service needed by the society to functio0n smoothly. We should appreciate the work they do. We should respect them and be thankful to them.

Unpleasant task

Bhagat loves to laze around in bed on Sunday mornings. Suddenly he hears his mother call out, ``Get up Bhagat. Brush your teeth quickly and drink your milk. Remember, you have promised to help me clean the bathroom today’’.

By now Bhagat is wide awake. He says, ``But mummy, that is dirty work. Why can’t Snehakumari do it for us?’’

His mother explains calmly, ``If Snehakumari can do it, so can we. We mustn’t label work as clean or dirty. It is all in the mind. And someone has to clean up the mess, is not it?’’

Bhagat agrees and happily goes about to help is mother.

There are many unpleasant tasks that we do not like to do, such as cleaning toilets and disposing off garbage. We usually employ poor people as helpers for these `lowly’ tasks. But, remember these tasks are not `dirty’ or `lowly’. They are only difficult to perform.

Than you God for the people who help us, for sweepers, ragpikers and conductors on the bus. We always are to them nice and kind. Work-clean and dirty – is only, in the mind!

Gandhi strongly believed in the dignity of labor. In 1938, speaking to people who had volunteered to do sanitization work in the congress camp, Gandhi said, `` don’t think your work is inferior to that of Rashtrapati Bose (president) or Jawaharlal Nehru. No, not at all. They serve and you also serve, and in fact, I value your work more… do you work sincerely and earnestly.