Let’s Call It a Day

David Costa is the Marketing Manager of BioRAFT, a Digital Science portfolio company and the provider of integrated laboratory safety and research management software solutions.

Prior to joining BioRAFT, David worked as the Director of Marketing and Public Relations for several non-profit companies. David has a degree from the University of Massachusetts in Writing and Education and a Masters of Science from Simmons College.

A couple of weeks ago, America celebrated Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  I spent my day off from work thinking about what a great humanitarian Dr. King was, but also about all the other “special” days we celebrate.  It seems as if there is a special day for everything.

So, I did a little research.  Did you know that there are over 50 annual special days that are recognized by presidential proclamation?  In addition, there are over 60 days Americans celebrate that are not presidentially recognized.  These days consist of everything from Star Wars Day to Ice Cream For Breakfast Day.

It got me thinking.  Why is there no Researcher Day?

I understand that everything can’t be a Federal holiday or observed by presidential proclamation, but isn’t researchers’ contribution to humanity worthy of even an unofficial day?  At the very least, there isn’t one person on earth who hasn’t benefitted from taking an aspirin or cold tablet.  Why do we think Record Store Day and CAPS LOCK DAY are more important than celebrating researchers?

To be fair, the National Postdoctoral Association recently celebrated its fifth annual National Postdoc Appreciation Week (NPAW).  Although I applaud their efforts, NPAW doesn’t pertain to all researchers, just a subset of researchers.  Why not celebrate all researchers, from graduate students to researchers who have been at the bench for years?

2014 headlines were filled with high-profile near misses at federally funded research laboratories.  We couldn’t help but be reminded of how researchers put themselves at risk on a daily basis.  Don’t these heroes deserve a day?  Isn’t recognizing the people who devote their lives to fighting cancer and AIDS, or those who’ve enhanced our lives with better technology more important than having ice cream for breakfast?

Official or unofficial, regarding researchers I say, let’s show appreciation to those who truly deserve it and  “call it a day.”

This post can be found on the BioRAFT blog.