International Friendship Day - Fostering Cooperation in a Divided World

Our world is currently going through a lot of strife and division - poverty, violence, and human rights issues to name a few. These challenges continue to undermine peace, prosperity, development, and harmony in our global community. Plus the COVID-19 pandemic brought on the concept of social distancing leading to our friendships and relations being tested on every account. However, despite how connected we are virtually, studies have shown that online social networks cannot fulfill our needs for human connection and they have contributed to increased cases of loneliness and depression.?

Considering the challenges we face today, we must always remember that friendship and human solidarity are partners on a communal and international front. Let’s remember this and countless lessons from our history on why it has become important to celebrate the friendship between people from all walks of life and to promote continued cooperation between several nations and cultures through our youth and children. On this note, let's discuss the history of the International Day of Friendship and why it's important.?

The International Day of Friendship has an interesting history. It was an idea purported by the card-making company Hallmark in the 1930s with an aim for people to adopt it by sending cards to celebrate each other. However, people, as they often are, were dubious - and therefore they saw it as a profit-driven effort. While it didn’t take off in the US as the card writing market dried up in the 1940s, the concept took off in various parts of Asia with people honoring their friends through gift exchanges.?

Later, in 1958, the World Friendship Crusade proposed the concept of a ‘world of peace through friendship’ to promote World Friendship Day. Finally, in 2011, the UN General Assembly proclaimed July 30th as International Friendship Day. The day aims to promote friendship between people, nations, cultures, and individuals to inspire peace, build bridges, and push international understanding and respect towards diversity through young people as our future leaders. Now, with its rising popularity on social media, our world continues to witness greater participation on this day that is meant to bring everyone together.?

You might ask, how do we achieve a peaceful future through World Friendship Day? As an organization, the UN aims to promote dialogue, solidarity, mutual understanding, and reconciliation between different civilizations by encouraging governments, international organizations, and civil society groups. They hold events, activities, and initiatives that bring very different groups together in one place to foster interesting dialogue and mutual cooperation on various topics and issues. Following the last two world wars, the UN has become the harbinger of establishing world peace by considering every nation’s point of view on human welfare and development. It brings forth the ideal that human solidarity is instrumental in promoting long-term peace and in boosting economic and social development - the only way to do that would be through cooperation and friendships.?

We must also quickly realize that a change in our mentality is needed - everyone is a world citizen and as a member of our global community, we must work together to further mankind’s progress. By maintaining long-standing cooperation, countries and their people can better understand each other, and so inspire continued peace efforts globally. On this day, we should strive to support the goals and objectives of different global and national initiatives taken on by countries in their pursuit of human welfare. This way, we can develop a global religion of shared humanity that ensures collective prosperity for everyone by creating a world without separatism, isolation, and exploitation.

Only by working towards fostering such friendships and building cooperation in our youth and children, can we transgress beyond the confines of just our own cultures and societies. They should help build a peaceful and prosperous world by strengthening old friendships and seeking new ones through collective efforts towards global goals.

Written by Yuvika Bhatia, Content Strategist at Ground Z.?