The UN Celebrates Friendship

I just found out that the United Nations has an International Day of Friendship. Honestly, at first, I was a bit surprised. With everything to deal with on the UN’s plate, why would they focus on something as simple as friendship? Why dedicate a whole day to it?

But the more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

Back in 2011, the UN General Assembly designated July 30th as International Friendship Day. Their rationale was that friendship, whether between individuals, communities, or even countries, can help bring peace, close divides, and encourage understanding. We can easily underestimate how powerful those small human connections are, especially when the news is so full of conflict and division.

The UN Charter itself highlights this agenda:

“To practice tolerance and live together in peace
with one another as good neighbours.”

These days, just talking about being good neighbors feels like a quiet act of protest against all the chaos out there. It is a reminder that peace isn’t only about big treaties or negotiations. It is about how we treat each other every day. It is those personal acts of kindness, openness, and empathy.

Kofi Annan, the former UN Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize winner, put it simply:

“We may have different religions, different languages,
different colored skin, but we all belong to one human race.”

“Friendship and love can cross all boundaries. They can survive every difference and division. That is how peace begins — with us reaching out beyond our walls.”

— Desmond Tutu

That really is at the heart of it. When we build friendships across differences, we start to understand each other better. We stop seeing people as “other” and start seeing them as fellow humans. Friendship most likely does not show up in official diplomatic documents, but it is often what makes real, lasting peace possible.

So now, when July 30th rolls around, I will think about International Friendship Day. It is not just a date on the calendar. It is an important reminder that every time we choose connection instead of division, compassion instead of indifference, we are quietly building peace.

Let’s be peacemakers every day. Honestly, that is exactly what the world needs more of right now.

-Sister Nancy Wales, csj

Image: 🇸🇮 Janko Ferlič/Unsplash

Love Arising

Recently I was gifted with a lovely painting done by Sister Dorothy Ann Howley.  I was struck by the way in which it spoke to me and I offer this reflection/poem for your own personal use, if it is helpful.

Circling, ever circling,

The energy created.

Circling, ever circling

it sends us forth to be

the source of Love for all

to be to see.

We are that heart that beats

We are that drum that pounds

So on we must go

To where we n'ere have been

All is steady,

All is ready

for life unfolding

for Love unfolding

-Sister Kathleen Lichti, csj

Love Arising
My heart beats,

The drum pounds.

My heart pounds,

The drum beats

All is steady,

All is ready

for life unfolding

for eyes beholding

Feather-like she rises,

Gracefully so easily.

Heart ablaze with Love

with Love do we arise

Summer’s Permission Slip

Now that I’m retired and no longer living by the seasonal rhythm of an educator, I’m discovering the need to be more intentional about my approach to summer living.

Regina Brett, who became a global sensation with her vital newspaper column “50 Life Lessons,” wisely said:

“Summer is the annual permission slip to be lazy.

To do nothing and have it count for something.”

Several summer pastimes spring to mind, activities that might be seen as “doing nothing,” yet they offer quiet meaning. May I suggest you take a well-earned permission slip and enjoy one of these gentle pursuits or other compatible ones.

• Sitting on a Bench: Observing, your outer or inner surroundings, without a device, without a book. Just savouring presence.

• Floating: Being buoyed by water, your body and thoughts are both carefree.

• People-Watching: Noticing others quietly, sipping something cool, engaging in a gentle study of human nature.

• Walking Without a Destination: Wandering without a route, seemingly aimless, but truly a walking meditation.

This summer, I’m letting the season be a permission slip to slow down and simply be. Wherever you are, however, you choose, may this summer give you permission to simply be.

-Sister Nancy Wales, CSJ

Images: Luke Dean-Weymark/Chris Galbraith/Unsplash

“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.”

— Henry James