The International Day of Friendship, July 30th

DECLARATION ON A CULTURE OF PEACE:

Article 2: Progress in the fuller development of a culture of peace comes about through values, attitudes, modes of behavior and ways of life conducive to the promotion of peace among individuals, groups and nations.

Today is an important day for everyone. Today we celebrate our friends. In 2011, the UN General Assembly with the idea that friendship between peoples, countries, cultures and individuals can inspire peace efforts and build bridges between communities proclaimed this day as the International Day of Friendship.Sadly, not all of us are privileged to say “I have a best friend.” However, there is always that someone who is always by your side for better or worse (not a wife or a husband) -- is it to listen, give advice, or just… be there. Friends...

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I have been given the opportunity to travel and live in several countries making me adapt to different cultures, ideologies, opinions etc. The difficult part is to understand it. Many times we fall into ourselves too much thinking that we are always right. Or, because of outside thinking we ought not to take into consideration what really is; making us close-minded to whatever the other culture has to offer.

“Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” Albert Camus

“Lots of people want to ride with you in the limo, but what you want is someone who will take the bus with you when the limo breaks down.” Oprah Winfrey

“In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit. “Albert Schweitzer 

This last one has a lot of special meaning to me. As an emotional man, my feelings quickly come and go. I can easily motivate myself in the worse possible case scenario or be depressed for days – but there’s always that person who motivates you and tells you how great of a human being you are. And this, is what rekindles the inner spirit. We can make a lot of money and feel financially free (what a feeling!) but having someone rekindling the spirit when feeling down is so much more important. We don’t want to experience what Chung Mong Koo when he became the Chairman of Hyundai. More about it here!

More about this day here: UN: Friendship Day

Special thanks to: Martin, Olga, Nelly, Ramon, Motta, Brandon, Victor, Michael, Jeff, and others. I just want to say thank you for always being there.

Have a great a day today and I wish you the best!

Hector Quintanilla