By Lalit Garg International Friendship Day: Writer, Journalist, Columnist E-253, Saraswati Kunj Apartment Friendship A Bouquet full of Happiness in Life 25 IP Extensions, Patparganj, Delhi-92 Email: [email protected] Lalit Garg Phone: 22727486, 9811051133 International Friendship Day is celebrated every year on the first Sunday of August in many countries of the world. The spirit behind it is the same everywhere - friendship and respect for friendship. The philosophy of friendship is very vast; it is the most important part of human’s life. One who establishes friendship without any insistence and selfishness, he aspires for the welfare of all sees him in the emergence of all and new dimensions of development keep opening in his life. Life seems beautiful. In this, there is no distinction between one's own alien, there is no competition and there is no boundary line between big and small. Despite being such an ideal situation and its importance, the question arises why there is so much lack of friendship between human beings today? Why is there so much mutual animosity? Why is there ideological animosity? Why is publicity sparring with differences? Even after being wise, prudent, sensible, why does man fight every day? Why does the tense stand entangled in the midst of controversies? He neither sees with the eye of reason, nor listens with neutrality and balance, nor thinks and decides with relativity. This is the reason why individual creativity is dying out. The feelings of family co-operation and participation are breaking down. Social disintegration is coming to the fore. Religious beliefs are starting to weaken. Man has been counting the links of the chains of selfishness in the captivity of words, holding the accepted concepts. In such times, the bond of friendship infuses new energy in relationships. Well-known American author Dale Carnegie has written many books on the art of making friends and they sell in millions. He has written in a book - 'Take all my wealth and give me a true friend.' Giving the example of American Richie Henry Ford, he has written that - he was once asked by journalists - you have immense wealth, pleasures are available, what do you miss in life when you have all this? Friends were found a lot, but that friendship was only about eating, drinking and having fun. I have not found a single friend who truly wants me and I want him. This is a huge gap in my life. International Friendship Day has more relevance today, this festival started in South American countries on July 20 in Uruguay, Argentina, Brazil, on July 30 in Paraguay, while in other countries of the world including India, Malaysia, and Bangladesh etc. South Asian countries. It is celebrated on the first Sunday of the month of August. Friendship is a relationship that you decide for yourself, whereas all other relationships are made by you. Just imagine how restless you get if you don't meet your friends one day and try to know their well being as soon as you get a chance. You can understand how special this relationship is. The technological age we live in today has brought people very close to each other. But at the same time this technology has taken away from us that time of relaxation which we can share amongst ourselves. Today we have imprisoned the whole world in our fist, but with this we have become so engrossed in ourselves that in a way we are cut off from the whole world. Celebrating International Friends Day is a worthwhile undertaking to give new energy to such human sensibilities in a new civilization and new culture. Friendship is such a relationship that in the present environment, when the ground of human sensibilities and mutual relationships is drying up, in such a time, staying connected to each other is a powerful medium to make life happy and to awaken magical feelings in the heart. Friendship based on momentary and selfishness is not really friendship, it is only an identity, such friends sometimes become very dangerous too. A TO Z INDIA SEPTEMBER 2022 PAGE 10