Behind the Labour Day veil
Dear Editor,
Many of us over the years are quite familiar with the popular maxim, “Bread cast upon the water will return to sustain and strengthen the man or woman for that matter who is rendering more service and better service than her or she is paid or expected to do.”
In spite of that, how many of us practise to accentuate the positive with a clear vision of strengthening volunteerism in our communities and also throughout the country?
Now, volunteerism maybe defined as the performance of formal service, social or civil in nature, which benefit others or one’s community without receiving any external rewards.
In other words, volunteerism is an extension of being a good neighbour; for instance, transforming a collection of houses into a community, as the people become more involved in the improvement of their surroundings and choose to help others.
However, during various periods of our history, volunteerism has been on the increase and, as a result, many communities have improved and many ordinary citizens’ circumstances also got much better.
Anyway, as we reminisced about our history, some prime examples of when volunteerism increased tremendously over the years were the period of the abolition of the slave trade and Emancipation from slavery in the early 1830s , the period of the rise of black nationalism under the leadership of Marcus Garvey in the 1920s, the period of the Nationalist Movement in the late 1930s, and in most recent times during the People’s National Party-led Administration in the 1970s. Interestingly, the chief aim of the volunteers at the time was that they believed that they could achieve a better way of life for themselves.
When Jamaicans from all walks of life in this modern era get to understand that May 23, Labour Day, was officially selected to commemorate when the general public indicated their desire to be free from colonial bondage, they will get impetus and be inspired to participate voluntarily for the improvement of themselves and their country overall.
Valentine Pearson
Cornwall Court, Montego Bay
valenempearson@yahoo.com
