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International Friendship Day celebrations take place on the first Sunday of August every year. The tradition of dedicating a day in honor of friends began in US in 1935. Gradually the festival gained popularity and today Friendship Day is celebrated in large number of countries. On this day people spend time with their friends and express love for them. Exchange of Friendship Day Gifts like flowers, cards and wrist bands is a popular tradition of this occasion.

There is not much literature on Friendship Day history as we celebrate today. However, there are supposedly numerous folktales and mythological legends that have come up after the celebration of the day started that shows that friends and friendship have been valued since the beginning of civilized world. As an intrinsically social creature, men love to make friends to further this process of socialization.

Considering the valuable role friends play in our life, it was deemed fit to have a day dedicated to friends and friendship. The United States Congress, in 1935, proclaimed first Sunday of August as the National Friendship Day. Since then, celebration of National Friendship Day became an annual event. The noble idea of honoring the beautiful relationship of friendship caught on with the people and soon Friendship Day became a hugely popular festival.

Following the popularity and success of Friendship Day in US, several other countries adopted the tradition of dedicating a day to friends. Today, Friendship Day is enthusiastically celebrated by several countries across the world including India.

In 1997, the United Nations named Winnie - the Pooh as the world's Ambassador of Friendship

The Bible reflects upon friendship as the bond that forms the foundation to human faith, trust and companionship. There are several tales from the Old Testament and the New Testament about the value of friendship and how true friendship is a treasure to unearth. A noticeable point is that, both the versions make a difference between the two broad meanings of friendship − one is a mere acquaintance, the other is a more affectionate relation.

In the Old Testament, Abraham is called the “friend of God” because of the intimacy of his relations. God speaks to Moses face to face “as a man…unto his friend” (Ex 33:11). The romantic friendship of Ruth and Naomi, the devotion of the subordinate Hushai for David, or the mutual relation between David and Jonathan − the Old Testament is replete with these interesting tales of friends and friendship.

In the New Testament, the relationship between Jesus and his disciples clearly depicts how human friendship can constantly grow. From being teacher and disciple, to lord and servant their relationship finally grew to an unparalleled friendship.

May all our friendships last forever.

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May Our Friendship Last Forever

May our friendship last forever;
May I sail upon your sea.
May we go through life together;
May there always be a "we."
May I be your endless sky;
May you breathe my gentle air.
May you never wonder why
Each time you look for me, I'm there.

May we be for each a smile
Like the warm, life-giving sun;
Yet when we're in pain awhile,
May our suffering be one.

May we share our special days,
The happiness of one for two;
And if we must go separate ways,
Let my love remain with you.

Kyle

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class was walking home from school. His name was Kyle. It looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself, "Why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday? He must really be a nerd." I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends tomorrow afternoon), so I shrugged my shoulders and went on.

As I was walking, I saw a bunch of kids running toward him. They ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him so he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I said, "Those guys are jerks. They really should get lives." He looked at me and said, "Hey thanks!" There was a big smile on his face. It was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude.

I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before now. I would have never hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home, and I carried some of his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid. I asked him if he wanted to play a little football with my friends. He said yes. We hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "Boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday!" He just laughed and handed me half of the books.

Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors, we began to think about college. Kyle decided on Georgetown, and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem. He was going to be a doctor, and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class. I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation. I was so glad it wasn't me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle. He looked great. He was one of those guys who really found himself during high school. He filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous. Today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech. So, I smacked him on the back and said, "Hey, big guy, you'll be great!" He looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled. "Thanks," he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat and began. "Graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years; your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach, but mostly your friends. I'm here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift you can give them. I am going to tell you a story."

I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met. He had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned out his locker so his mom wouldn't have to do it later and was carrying his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a little smile. "Thankfully, I was saved. My friend saved me from doing the unspeakable."

I heard the gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weaknest moment. I saw his mom and dad looking at me and smiling that same grateful smile. Not until that moment did I realize its depth.

Never underestimate the power of your actions. With one small gesture, you can change a person's life...for better or for worse.

Be A Friend, Not A Bully.

Sand and Stone

Two friends were walking through the desert.

During some point of the journey, they had an argument.

One friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, he wrote in the sand:

Today my best friend slapped me in the face.

They kept on walking, until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath.

The one who had been slapped got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but his friend saved him.

After he recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone:

Today my best friend saved my life.

His friend who had slapped him and saved him asked, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand, and now, your write on a stone. Why?"

The other friend replied, "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in the sand, where the winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it.

Let us learn to write our hurts in the sand and to carve our blessing in stone.

Will We Love Everyone?

Ideal Love

God had made Eve for Adam as his ideal companion. Eve was to assist and to complement Adam's life on earth. Together they worked hard and did wonders to their world and the world at large. As they multiplied, love traveled and ideally brought glad tidings to the world.

Sinful Love

But all is lost in the split of a second. They sinned against the Almighty God by breaking His law. And to that end, they lost their loving care for one another. Though they gained much in knowledge, but all their inclinations and desires is none other than sinning against God and all His creation.

Selfish Love

And so we become so selfish. We love our kind. We love our group, our clan and association. We love our race. We love those of same interests and concerns. We love OUR VERY OWN WORLD. Heaven knows how selfish is our love.

We are blessed with so many friends during our childhood years. We have fewer friends as we go to schools and colleges. Yet more friends are lost as we compete and strife for "excellence" in the working world.

We only mean to love our own self. We desire to possess love at the expense of others. As long as we are happy and satisfied, we can inflict upon others severe harms and pains. If others stand in our way, we will have no mercy and never fail to intimidate and hassle them until they are not within sight. We are so ill will and ferocious towards others even if they watch us from afar. We are ready to pounce on them given the opportunity. How deep is our hatred toward others after all these years.

Sacrificial Love

If you are watchful, you will notice that everyone is beautiful on the inside and outside. It is on you to be the judge whether someone is a good person to love or not. Being a bad judge doesn’t make you an “interesting” individual; it just makes you evil.

Everyone can have if they choose to love. Love is what you do and how you treat people, and that is what we will always need to work on!

It is hard to love but it is possible to learn to love everyone no matter how much pain they have caused. Let us do it prayerfully.

Will we love everyone?

Let us try to do this daily. It is hard and sometimes does not seem to make much sense but it is a goal everyone should aspire too.

Try to look at someone you don’t even know. They are no different from your friends and family. When you can see deeper, you can understand who they are. Has it ever happened to you?

It is more evident when there is someone who seems sad. You look into their eyes, and it is almost as if their whole life plays out in that split second. And when you see that pain, that hurt in their eyes, it’s almost like you would do ANYTHING to make them happy. It’s all you truly want.

Despite everything, the hatred in the world, the decisions people may make, everyone is still equal, but the factor that sets us apart is our ability to ACCEPT others. When you can start to realize that everyone is an amazing enigma, that beauty is everywhere, that life is a miracle created by love, then it is easier to love everyone.

When you love everyone, you want to help everyone. That is when you can make the difference in the world, because you have an undying passion for people. Once you attain that love for all, it never goes away, because it is the strongest force known to man, because loving all gives you a feeling of euphoria, a feeling that causes your eyes to widen and take in everything like a sponge, you truly love life, and you just can’t stop smiling. (Reflections on Mother Teresa.)

This belief makes it all much easier to appreciate people. Everyone has good attributes and bad ones, what is important is to realize that not a single one of them is bad, because we all make mistakes and have defects. In the end we are all just humans. It is so easy to hate each other but being around people you love is very fulfilling. This makes us happy.

Believe it my fellow friends, being judgmental, angry and disdain towards others get you nowhere in this lovely world created by our Almighty God.