“Children are the hands by which we take hold of heaven”

– Henry Ward Beecher-

October 1^st has a remarkable significance as it stands for the importance of two generations: the children and the adults. In Sri Lanka, October 1^st celebrates the Children’s Day along with the World’s adults’ day. This essay thus focuses on the Children’s Day in Sri Lanka and the world’s adult day and how they are celebrated within the island.

Children’s Day is an event which is commemorated on different dates according to various places around the world. Children’s day is primarily established in 1954 as Universal Children’s Day. In 1959, with the UN’s adoption of the declaration of the Rights of the Child, November 20 was remarked as the World Children’s Day. On the same date in 1989, the UN general assembly adopted the convention on the rights of the Child. However, in Sri Lanka, the Children’s Day is celebrated on the 1^st of October.

The Children’s Day on the beginning of the month of October is significant as it remarks the happiness in children’s lives implying their blissful voyage towards the realms of maturity. Accordingly, both government and non-governmental sectors organize various functions in order to glorify the day of the children. The children are bestowed with gifts and blessings and are also granted with liberations and leniencies on this day. In schools, most of the time, the primary students are allowed to wear colorful dresses and play as they wish. Thus, the children are to live their lives to the fullest on Children’s Day. As children are the future of the nation, the government annually celebrates this particular day with a theme that secures the civil rights of the children while ensuring the lives of them. Therefore, it can be said that the more striking fact is that the well-being of children and establishment of the rights of children should not be limited to one specific day, but they must be protected throughout their development in order to build a better world in which children will be the future rulers and citizens.

Likewise, World Adults’ Day was first established on the 14^th of December 1990 by the United Nations General Assembly. Due to the significant increase in the population of adults all around the world, they are becoming a striking concern for the economy of the countries. However, each and every year a special theme is selected in highlighting the significance of adults and the issues regarding the coming of age. The non-governmental sectors and organizations plan on various events in remarking this day of the respectable adulthood. They tend to achieve a sense of happiness and satisfaction through these programs which seem to grant bliss to their monotonous existence. Thus, the World Adults’ Day can be demonstrated as an attempt to address these concurrent concerns in the lives of adults.

Thus, October 1^st is a significant day since it remarks the importance of two generations. Both children and adults should be protected as they symbolize the fragility of human existence.