Life today is so complicated that we cannot get everything we need. With the exception of the free gifts of nature like air, water and light, no desirable things or useful objects can be had without working for it. The table and chairs where we comfortably sit are the products of the carpenter’s toil .The food that we eat every day is not free, if it is from our parent’s toil, sweat and labor. The clothes we wear and practically everything that makes us look, nice, healthy and handsome and beautiful, are products of labor. Why then hesitate to labor?
Labor is an important activity in a community. It provides us food, clothing, the comfort and necessities of a civilized life. No one can have all these things without working for them.
Persons who labor develop fine traits such as patience, industry and endurance. One cannot build an empire without patience, because an empire is not built in one day alone.
We know today, that education is a pre-determining factor that measures our success where we are. We are aware of it. But have we valued and quantified our learned education?
The youth of today, are soft and easy-going. Their tendency is toward parasitism. They are not inclined nor accustomed to strenuous labor. White collar job is the dominant note in the symphony of their existence. They are not “sold” to labor, and their sense of righteousness is working for it. In their struggle to make good, whether it be in the farms, in factories, in commercial houses or in government services, our education, our work and our capability will determine how far we shall go.
Where are the youths of today? If we are to save our dear country from economic ruin and misery, let us change our attitudes toward labor. We must work, and learn to love our work, “work with love, love your work” as the saying goes. We must not be lured by white-collar jobs. Nations are built on sweat and hard work.
A democratic nation like the Philippines has anchored its hopes of greatness on how far education can be a vital and dynamic factor of development. In the language of developmental education, it means better administrative performance and higher productivity, and higher productivity means marshalling all available resources, human and material, for rapid economic growth. We are afraid to toil. We prefer a life of ease and take pride in it not knowing that there is dignity in LABOR. So noble and dignified is the man who labors to produce wealth, health, peace and contentment for the country. If we want a great nation and a high standard of living, together, let us change our attitude toward labor. An effective leadership of education is the answer. It is a truism that as the leader goes, so goes the nation.
By: Ricer M. Borja | Teacher II | Mariveles National High School-Cabcaben | Mariveles, Bataan
