As students, most of our main responsibilities in life revolve around our school. From painstaking hours of sitting at home doing homework, to walking into your first period class knowing you didn’t prepare the way you should have for the test you are about to take, we often find ourselves burned out after long stretches of school work. With that in mind, nothing is sweeter for us than a nice long break in the middle of the year for the holidays.  During this break we spend more time with our families and loved ones to clear our minds.Unfortunately, that break doesn’t exactly exist for a large amount of people around the world. Many don’t even get the day off to spend time with their families; they are forced to clock in as if it were just another day.

Take emergency workers for example–These brave men and women put their lives at risk each and everyday at the call of an emergency. From police officers and firefighters, to doctors and nurses and especially 9-1-1 first responders (a frequently overlooked and underappreciated group) commonly find themselves working holiday hours. Unfortunately, for these people, emergencies don’t take the day off so they can’t either.  They put in the sacrificial hours, working away and being heroes in their communities even if it means being away from their loved ones on special occasions. While not all emergency workers come in on these days others may find themselves working as much as a twenty four hour shift away from their families. While most people eventually get to come home at some point, these workers may have to wait till the next day just to see their families.

Hotel and restaurant workers are another group of people who usually have to clock in during holidays. For these people, days like this can be especially grueling since holidays can be some of the busiest days of the year. Both of my parents are hotel workers. Witnessing their workload compared to their compensation is extremely disheartening. Workers in this field don’t get anywhere near the appreciation they deserve for the hard work they put in to provide for their families. Last year one in three Americans traveled out of town for the holiday season. More traveling means more hotel check-ins which then results in more work for any hotel employees. 

In an increasingly industrial society it becomes more and more difficult for people to find time to put all of their work to the side. As many as one in ever four Americans can find themselves “coming in” on a holiday. What better time than this holiday season to show our appreciation for what they do? To the men and women who put their lives on the line during their holidays; to the hard workers who clock-in on their holiday, in hopes that one day maybe their children won’t have to; to all of those people and anyone else who may be working days like this, Thank you.

For more information on these wonderful hard workers see the links below:

https://www.ravemobilesafety.com/blog/sacrifice-holiday-others-thank

https://www.buzzfeed.com/hannahalothman/meet-the-people-you-probably-didnt-realise-will-be-working

https://firedeptfamily.com/first-responders-christmas/