Chokpa Bhutia
Dimapur
Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated by several countries across the world including India. On this day people spend time with their friends and express love for them. It also includes meeting with friends and exchanging of cards, flowers and gifts and wrist bands.
Many social and cultural organisations also celebrate Friendship Day by hosting programs and get together. We meet and make friends at different stages and walks of life. They may be someone we met as a child, a classmate at school, someone we met at work or through other friends. They may even be friends who live at a distance in another country or virtual friends we've made online. Whoever they are, however we met them, there is a special connection based on a shared history and interests, enjoying doing things together or simply talking and understanding each other. Friendship is divine and is one of the most beautiful relationships that has evolved since the beginning of the human race.
Other than immediate blood relations, friends are the most valued persons in one’s life. Friends usually spend whatever time they find in pursuing their common interests, confiding in each other about their joys and sorrows and coming to the help of those who are in need emotionally or otherwise.
Now the idea of Friendship Day was given by Joyce Hall, the founder of Hallmark Cards. Historically speaking, it is believed that hostilities after World War I in 1935, led the UNITED STATES Congress into starting the tradition. Considering the valuable role friends play in our lives, it was deemed to fit to have a day dedicated to friends and friendship. This was an attempt to promote peace between people and nations weaving together traditions, ethnicities and different cultures, much in line with international cooperation efforts.
The main idea was to promote principles of peace, trust, cooperation and ameliorate hatred and mistrust among people and nations. Gradually the festival gained popularity and the success of this wonderful occasion was not just limited to the US alone. With time, several other countries followed suit in adopting the tradition of dedicating a day to the cause of friendship. The beautiful idea of having a day in the honour of friends was joyously taken over by several other countries across the world. With more and more nations joining in the celebrations, the United States, then proclaimed first Sunday of August as the National Friendship Day. Since then, celebration of National Friendship Day became an annual event.
Now over the years we seem to have forgotten the main historical purpose or the reason to celebrate this day. why do many of us forget that this day isn’t just limited between our own circle of friends, its a day where we as an individual are responsible in promoting peace between people and nations irrespective of caste, creed, culture and religion. As His Holiness the 14th Dalai lama Nobel Peace Prize laureate rightly said “Generate great compassion and you become a friend to the world.” why can’t we be learn to be a friend to the world? This Pandemic, covid-19 and COVID- 19 effects has taken many lives and has also caused pain and misery globally. This is a difficult time, when we need the support of each other, a time to prove our true friendship and humanity to our fellow brothers and sisters. Here it doesn’t mean that one has to do something big which isn’t in one’s capability, but rather as the saying rightly says “Charity begins at home.”- so let’s start from where we can, probably helping someone within our near and dear ones, or someone we know is in need and we can help them then why hesitate? Someone may be in need of food and if we have a few grains extra then why not share? Someone may have lost a loved one, then why not sit beside them and give them strength to overcome their loss? Or at this time many seem to be facing issues of mental health rather than casting them out why can’t we accept them and listen to them and help them with a few words of ours? Probably this might save a person from committing suicide, which is something happening these days due to the difficult times. Earlier it was mental health that was stigmatised by society and now its COVID-19. Why can’t we accept them irrespective of what they are healing from and most of all accept them irrespective of their cast, creed and religion? Accepting them is also an initiative of peace, which further is one of the reasons friendship day is celebrated.
Even all religious texts talks about friendship, compassion and peace. For e.g. the Bible, the main text of Christianity reflects upon friendship as the bond that forms the foundation to human faith, trust and companionship. Following verses from the bible aptly portray the importance of friends "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7 “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13-15 Even in the famous Hindu epic ‘Mahabharata’, Lord Krishna demonstrates the many colors of friendship - affection, romance, brotherhood, protection, guidance. Even Buddhist Spiritual Leader His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama says “To have true friends and be loved by them, we must in turn feel love and sympathy for others.” Even the Quran gives tremendous importance to friendship. It is considered to be a divine blessing. So therefore universally all these religious texts also teaches us the importance of friendship, compassion and peace which is indeed one of the main reasons why this day has been chosen to be celebrated as National Friendship Day.
Friendship is a great feeling. So this Pandemic let us all come together and remember that “Friendship Day” isn’t just a day for us to have fun and frolic but rather a day that was chosen for us all to spread love, peace and harmony between nations, societies and also individuals. Let us help one another and be a little more compassionate towards our fellow beings, It is only when we feel friendly towards our fellow human beings and all other living beings can we live in harmony. It is only when we have love and sympathy for others can we have true friends and be loved by them. Therefore let us all come together and do our little bit to get there, let us not forget there are people dying, so let us care for the living, let us together make it a better place for us and for the generations to come. After all this warmhearted feeling for others is the ultimate success of life. So with folded hands this friendship day let us seek from God above to shower us with his love so that we can all together make this world a better place for the entire human race.
Happy Friendship Day!!
