Observing different days for different reasons can make impact only if they are done with utmost honesty

 I believe we must respect such special days according to their cause and follow them with respect and honesty. Everything has its own importance and meaning — we might know some of these days, while we might not know some of them. What I feel is that if I take an initiation with the utmost honesty to these causes and make people know about them, sooner or later people will start to believe in them too. One should not look at what others are doing but keep moving on the path you believe in. So, if you are advocating the causes you believe in, people will eventually see it and support you.

— Hemlata, Canada

 Marking such days which are of global importance should always be given high emphasis because such occasions will help people know about the past and history — what had really happened on that day and its significance and interesting stories and facts. For instance, the World Health Day is celebrated on April 7 every year — it is the day when World Health Organisation (WHO) was established in 1948. And this day is significantly celebrated around the world to mark the importance of health of each individual. Just like this one, we observe many other days of the calendar which are of high importance. Such days can neither be denied nor neglected. And each day has its own features and significance which should be accepted and embraced by all of us — that is the main reason why we should mark such important days.

— Pratik Shrestha, Buddhanagar, Baneshwor

 Everyone likes to remember and cherish the most remarkable day of his or her life like birthday, anniversary, et cetera. We celebrate these days with utmost happiness and share the joy and happy moments with our near and dear ones. Similarly there are historical and significant days of a country or of the world which are worth remembering and cherishing. For instance, Martyrs’ Day, Independence Day, Constitution Day, Bhanu Jayanti and Prithivi Jayanti et cetera and we mark these special occasions with great honour and respect.

Days dedicated as Bhanu Jayanti and Laxmi Jayanti are significant in the field of arts and literature — marking and celebratinga these days means paying respect and honouring particular personalities for their contributions to their respective field, society and the nation. Also, to some extent, such special days and celebrations keep us aware about our history, our ancestors et cetera. If we don’t mark such special days, such personalities and their contributions will be forgotten one day. Such days are a source of inspiration for some people as they give zeal to do something new, innovative and good so that our future generations will remember us in years to come.

Every new day brings new hope and enthusiasm, however, some of the days are very special, which are worth celebrating. Likewise, different organisations those are related with health and environment also mark important day — World AIDS Day, World Tuberculosis Day et cetera.

— Sulochana Panta, Birta Deurali, Kavre

 I believe time is precious and every day is special. The festivals, ceremonies, occasions and other national days remind us of time and its value. In developing countries like Nepal there’s a trend of giving holidays during such days. As a result lots of our works are left incomplete and we miss our deadlines — this hampers in the development process. But in developed countries there is a limitation to such holidays.

However, I like holidays as I can have enough time to visit new places, go shopping, meet my friends and go out with them and so on. But I don’t think such days should be given priority. Every moment is precious to me and I enjoy every moment which makes each day memorable for me.

— Subhamitta

 A few days ago, I was browsing the Facebook and guess what day it was? It was Monday or Tuesday but apart from that, it was also ‘Maize day’. And the other day probably was ‘Celebrate your unique talent day’. Then we are celebrating occasions like Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, and Children’s Day and so on, one day or the other. Moreover, the world now celebrates days like ‘Cake Day’ or ‘Eat a Red Apple Day’ — these exist and the world wants me to celebrate them to my amusement.

Initially dedicating that one day of the year to someone or something was a pure sign of remembrance and honour. However, there are so many days dedicated to almost everything that the importance of dedicating specific days has somehow faded. But of course our generation is simply a bunch of extra smart people who believe in judging the excitement of one’s life, based on their social media posts.

And these so-and-so days have been limited to being nothing more than a stupid reason to upload a fully-filtered photographs along with some long googled copied caption.

— Meenashi Pokhrel

 Marking a day for a cause can highlight the issue of the same. For example, June 12 is observed as World Day Against Child Labour. This day gives us the opportunity at least once a year to think about the magnitude of the menace of child labour and to unlearn the myth that poverty is to be alleviated first and then only we can solve this problem. Nobel

laureate Kailash Satyarthi points out that poverty does not breed child labour but it is child labour that perpetuates poverty.

Now, to get to his point, we can consider a poor family consisting of parents and their two sons — one adult and one child. The market force will try to employ the child as a cheaper option of labour. This will have a negative impact on the child’s health, education and his acquiring necessary skills to cut the vicious cycle of his family’s poverty. On the other hand, the child’s entry into the job market will certainly hamper his elder’s (or at least one other adult’s) prospect of getting employment. If the adult brother gets the job in place of his younger brother, then their family income will, definitely, shoot up as a child labour usually earns much less than his or her adult counterpart. Moreover, there is every possibility that the parents will send their child who is fired from his job to school. Therefore, in this case, the child with the help of increased family income and school education can become a game changer for his family. So, it is not at all possible to eradicate poverty without giving top priority to end child labour.

This special day reminds us the need to take the pledge of not visiting those houses and shops that employ child labour. We can help ferry a child labour from a shop/house/factory to a school and thus creating an employment opportunity for an unemployed youth by simply boycotting every killing field of childhood and

its products. Indeed, the marking of this day for such a noble cause keeps on reminding us , ‘We are the world/ We are the children/ We are the ones who make a brighter day/ So let’s start giving/ There is a choice we’re making/ We are saving our own lives/ It’s true we make a better day/ Just you and me”.

— Sujit De, Kolkata

 I think it’s nothing more than a social gimmick. Observing every single day as so-and-so day doesn’t make any difference to those it actually should. We celebrate May day, Women’s Day, Children’s Day, but has the celebration made any difference to the needy ones? No. The celebrations are confined within seminars and formal programmes. There are thousands of children who are denied basic rights. Same goes for the millions of workers. Only those in power and in possession of money benefit from such celebrations. The victims will continue to be victimised till the end.

— Safal Thapa, Chabahil

 We observe a lot of days for this and that purpose. Some people might analyse such celebrations in a positive manner, and some might take it in a negative way. However, I always see such activities in a positive light rather than pointing those out as either right or wrong. I strongly believe marking such a day will undoubtedly make a real difference in my opinion. Such activities will be adding systems and values to our society.

But I also agree that some people regard such celebrations as more of a social gimmick. They love to pass comments instead of appreciating such noble activities which are conducted in the right manner for making a real difference. Therefore, this is totally the attitude problem of such people.

— Saroj Wagle, Dumarwana, 04, Bara

 Frankly, the celebration or observation of so-and-so and so day is a sheer waste of valuable national time and resources. I participated in the celebration of Human Rights Day last year which was more like a children’s carnival than a serious event it should have been. These events do not really improve us a bit. For example, we celebrate Anti-corruption Day only to go up in the corruption index. We celebrate Children’s Day but know little about child labour. We hold Violence Against Women Day but do nothing about police violence against women smugglers. We hold Anti-Trafficking Day only to witness surge in trafficking of women and labour. This must be the only country in the world where number of such days jostle with festivals in the annual calendar. I suspect that these days are held for monetary benefits as the people are sure to pocket allowances whereas the organisers get to eat, drink and make merry apart from appearing on media and possibly making some money on the side.

— Manohar Shrestha, Kathmandu

 I like days marked with celebrations. Hectic schedule gives me less time to spend with my family and friends. We plan vacations, shopping, celebration during such days. So, celebrating a day with memories cannot be considered a social gimmick. I believe that the real difference is to achieve happiness in each marked day that beholds a cause. Since the days that are marked have importance, useless impressions must not be the centre of concern.

— Anku Chapagain,  Ghattekulo, Kathmandu

 Generally, special days are marked in order to reminisce the effort of a particular individual or an event or necessarily a special cause. In a whole lot of 365 days, only a day is marked for that special reason. It creates awareness among the people as well as gives a reason to celebrate an occasion or to remember his or her effort for a bit of time amidst our busy schedule. It provides a reason to think, smile or have a little talk with our closed ones with a cup of tea in the morning. The recent occurrence in the month of November is ‘No Shave November’. Many individuals posted updates in social networking sites about this particular day having no clue about the reason behind it. It’s a special journey of a month to forgo the expenses spent on hair maintenance and donate the amount to raise cancer awareness. Such a celebration is definitely helpful to raise awareness about a cause. However, sadly nowadays such celebrations have turned into a social gimmick.

— Naina Tandukar, Buddhanagar

 Most of the people in our country spend the day talking about merits and demerits of things and judging other people. This happens when we have nothing to do. There will be no change by doing such things. We discuss about celebrities, movies et cetera. Instead of doing this stupid discussion we can turn our life in the right direction. If we use this time in real work, we can make our life better and can help in the development of the country.

— Mukesh Dahal, Lagankhel, Lalitpur