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Our Correspondent
Kohima, Aug. 6 (EMN): Friendship is one of the most beautiful relationships a person can ever have. A friend may not be a member of your family but is always there for you both in good times and the bad.
In view of the significant role a friend plays in one’s life, a day has been set apart to honour, respect and shower love on friends; to make them feel special and embrace their presence in one’s life.
Friendship Day origin
It is said that Joyce Hal, Founder of Hallmark Cards, first introduced the idea of a day to celebrate friendship in the 1920s but it was Dr. Ramon Artemio Bracho, who started the World Friendship Crusade, proposed Friendship Day in 1958.
Then the UN General Assembly proclaimed the International Day of Friendship in 2011 “with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities”.
Significance
International Friendship Day can help promote peace and social harmony among the people, according to the UN.
"Our world faces many challenges, crises and forces of division — such as poverty, violence, and human rights abuses — among many others — that undermine peace, security, development and social harmony among the world's peoples. To confront those crises and challenges, their root causes must be addressed by promoting and defending a shared spirit of human solidarity that takes many forms — the simplest of which is friendship.
“Through friendship — by accumulating bonds of camaraderie and developing strong ties of trust — we can contribute to the fundamental shifts that are urgently needed to achieve lasting stability, weave a safety net that will protect us all, and generate passion for a better world where all are united for the greater good," it said.
Although the official International Friendship Day is celebrated on July 30, various countries celebrate the occasion on different dates and month. It is celebrated on February 14 in countries like Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, Finland, Estonia and Dominican Republic, while Ukraine celebrates on June 9 and South Africa on April 16.
A few countries like India, Malaysia and Bangladesh celebrate Friendship Day on the first Sunday of August. This year, it falls on August 7.
As we celebrate the day, let’s take a look at some of the most beautiful quotes about friendship:
There is nothing on this earth more to be prized than true friendship — Thomas Aquinas
The greatest gift of life is friendship, and I have received it — Hubert H. Humphrey
A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same — Elbert Hubbard
Of all possessions a friend is the most precious — Herodotus
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends? — Abraham Lincoln
Be slow to fall into friendship; but when thou art in, continue firm and constant — Socrates
A friend is someone who gives you total freedom to be yourself — Jim Morrison
Walking with a friend in the dark is better than walking alone in the light — Helen Keller
A real friend is one who walks in when the rest of the world walks out — Walter Winchell
• No matter how old we grow, no matter the distance between us, you will always stay in my heart. Happy Friendship Day!
• You are everything that a true friend can be, the most precious gift from God. A very happy Friendship Day!
• Happy Friendship Day, my buddy! You are someone I can count on in every step of my life. May our beautiful friendship last forever!
• I’m extremely fortunate to have a friend like you who is always there to walk with me the extra mile. Happy Friendship Day!
• People come and go but some make a beautiful impact on your life and continue to stand by you through thick and thin. You are one of them. Happy Friendship Day!