International Days and their role in society

International days have been created to raise awareness over particular issues or celebrate some particular situations. Since there are annual holidays to celebrate religious events in all cultures, humans thought that there should also be days that are dedicated to specific things and that we will decide what they will be focused on. As we take our fates on our hands we ought it to ourselves to decide what we want to celebrate and what we want to talk about to the world.

Starting with Valentine’s Day

The most popular day that follows the concept of International Days is February 14th, Valentine’s Day. It is dedicated to love and affection but is mostly oriented toward loving relationships between couples. The day is a wonderful opportunity for people to share their love but also comes with a great advantage. Stores all over the world can rapidly increase their sales and people start consuming again to buy presents and prove their existence by starting to spend money once again.

The day is conveniently located between the Christmas and Easter holidays to help traders increase their sales. It is not in the summer period since many people would go on vacation and it comes as a sweet break through the tough and tiring winter that people have to deal with. We would dare to say that marketing is a good criterion for International Days.

Including everyone in our celebrations

Apart from Valentine’s we have woman’s and mother’s days that have been popular long before people knew there was a father’s day and so on. However, this was following the stereotypes of the society so people soon became aware that since men are called to have equal responsibilities they should be given a day to. Still, you will be surprised to learn that there is also a family and parents’ day.

How did they appear on the landscape? The idea here is that women who have not given birth to their children and people who are not the biological parents of a baby should also be included in society and its celebrations. Parents’ day also allows gay couples to celebrate the fact that they have a family and that they raise their kids. The concept of ”politically correct” has to take into consideration every part of the society without making discriminations in direct or indirect ways.

Health seems to be the only thing that matters

We could not avoid referring of course to the International days that are dedicated to certain diseases or people with all kinds of disorders. This is, of course, to raise awareness over particular matters that concern human health and that most people do not know how to handle.

The idea of talking about them is important because it makes people familiar with the syndromes and illnesses that are in the center of attention each time. The strongest plus though is that it prevents people from bullying other people. An overweight kid may be a victim of excess bullying at school but when International Day comes to talk about obesity or eating disorders people become aware of the problems that every person might face in their personal lives.

The International Days that we do not like to remember

Finally, there are days that are dedicated to those who suffer due to the way society is structured and the huge financial differences it imposes on large populations. For instance, the International Days for poverty eradication or refugees knock our door on how we should deal with these issues. However, these days are hardly ever advertised and practically no one knows about them.

It is not very convenient for us and for the financial system to erase the phenomena that cause so much pain and that we are partially responsible for. It is much easier to talk about the hard work of a mother or an overweight child than thinking about how poor people continue to die up to these days without us doing anything about it.

Focusing on our health and well-being is nice but this is not the only thing that matters on the planet. Once we get over the guilt and start to take action these days will find the attention they deserve in our calendar and the world will be a better place to live.