With A Little Help From My Friend
By Jordan Redman
Staff Writer
The International Day of Friendship is a United Nations (UN) day that promotes the role friendship plays in promoting peace in many cultures. It is observed on July 30 each year.
To mark the International Day of Friendship, the UN encourages governments, organizations and community groups to hold events, activities and initiatives that promote solidarity, mutual understanding and reconciliation.
In 2011, the UN proclaimed the International Day of Friendship with the idea that friendship between people, countries and cultures can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities.
Greg Pollman of Fayetteville, Arkansas said he wouldn’t have made it far in life without his friends. “They are goofballs, but they are my goofballs.”
Pollman said he and his group of friends have been close friends for almost 30 years.
“The world is just right when we’re fishin’, playing cards or talking about our grandchildren.”
According to Susan Krauss Whitbourne Ph.D., friendship helps shape our lives more than we realize. In Psychology Today, she wrote about why we need friends.
‘Whether you realize it or not, your friends have shaped who you are today. You are even the product of the friends who are no longer your friends,” Whitbourne said.
Pollman expressed a similar feeling “I have lots of good friends and some bad friends, and some friends that are no longer friends. But I remember each one of ‘em because they all taught me something different.”
He also explained what a joy it’s been to have close friends since he doesn’t have any siblings. “I didn’t have any brothers or sisters growing up, so I’ve sort of made my brothers by being so close with Chuck and Phil.”
Whitbourne touched on the importance of friendship when a child has no siblings. “Early friendships play a vital role because they occur while key developmental changes are taking place. They help teach us some of those important life skills but also shape our life ‘narrative.’”
She continued, “Friendship serves as an important learning tool for only-children.”
Saul Levine M.D., the author of Our Emotional Footprint, said: “The songs You’ve Got a Friend by Carol King, Barbra Streisand’s People…who need people and The Beatles’s With a little help from my friends, express the critical roles good friends play our lives.”
Like Pollman, Levine cherishes his old bonds, “some of my oldest close friends have been an important part of my life,” he continued “Intimate friends share each other’s experiences, and in some ways, they inhabit each other’s lives.”
An overlooked benefit of friendship is that it can help keep our minds and bodies strong. According to a recent Harvard study, friendship is as important to our physical health as eating well and keeping fit. The study concluded that having solid friendships in our life even helps promote brain health.
On July 30, celebrate with your friends. Take a group-selfie and tag us on Instagram! Find us at @TheGayly.
Copyright The Gayly – July 30, 2018 @ 7:10 a.m. CDT.