Putin Celebrates Social Workers’ Day: ‘Good Deeds and Assistance To People in Need Are Fundamental in Life’

June 9, 2021 (EIRNS)—Russia celebrated its annual national day of recognition for social workers on June 8, in which President Vladimir Putin addressed the occasion, citing the fact that 320 years ago, Peter the Great established the national social security system. The President said: “At the same time, the values of charity, love for one’s neighbors and support for the needy link and bind the entire centuries-long history of our nation and are the spiritual foundation of Russia’s traditional religions.”

Putin emphasized, “Outstanding patrons of the arts and selfless people, as well as members of diverse estates, perceived good deeds and assistance to people in need as a highly important aspect of their lives.”

He expressed the nation’s gratitude, declaring:

“Friends, thank you very much for your warmth, compassion and generosity, for all your achievements and your work for the benefit of your charges requiring your assistance, attention and care. It goes without saying that your selfless actions during the coronavirus pandemic deserve infinite gratitude and recognition. I am confident that every Russian felt the special human dimension of your work and saw what serving society means in real life, and what deeds have great moral strength and spiritual generosity.”

Putin’s words echoed those of Massachusetts’ Cotton Mather, who, in his 1710 Essays To Do Good, said:

“The world contains, it is supposed, about a thousand millions of inhabitants. What an ample field do these afford, for doing good!... Yea, unworthy to be deemed a man, is he, who is not for doing good among men. An enemy to the proposal, ‘that mankind may be the better for us,’ deserves to be reckoned little better than a common enemy of mankind.”