November 21 - World Hello Day

World Hello Day will be celebrated for the 48th time this year. The idea for it belongs to two Americans, brothers Michael and Brian McCormack. The idea was born in 1973, during the Cold War, in protest against the growing international tension and as a way to fight for peace. The event that directly pushed the brothers to such a decision was another conflict that broke out between Egypt and Israel (the so-called "Yom Kippur War").

As Michael McCormack himself noted, he and his brother wanted to do something that emphasized the importance of personal communication for the purpose of maintaining peace.

As a result, the brothers sent 1,360 letters of welcome in seven languages to various statesmen, inviting them to support the initiative and celebrate the first-ever World Hello Day.

Then, in 1973, the idea was supported by residents of only 15 countries. But in subsequent years, their number gradually increased, and today the World Hello Day is celebrated in 180 countries of the world, regardless of age, profession, field of activity, political views. The McCormack brothers continue to promote the World Hello Day initiative to this day, and the initiative even has its own website on the Internet - http://www.worldhelloday.org

It's very easy to join the World Hello Day initiative. To do this, you just need to greet at least 10 people on the day of the celebration, November 21. This small step is sure to launch many chain reactions, embracing many people with a positive personal communication, will remind them of the importance of establishing and maintaining dialogue, the value of personal communication and showing goodwill in establishing communications, preventing and resolving conflicts. You can express your greeting in a wide range of available ways: verbally, by gesture, a postcard, a polite smile, sending a smiley in a messenger, etc.

In international communication, greeting etiquette is generally universal. Moreover, in each country and each nation, the customs of greeting each other have their own features, sometimes quite colorful. Gestures and literal interpretation of greeting words differ: Eskimos rub noses, in Latin America, Italy and France they often hug or kiss when they meet, in the United States of America and almost all of Western Europe they shake hands, in Japan and China bow is a welcome gesture, etc. The verbal greeting, for example, sounds like "Peace to you" among the Arabs, "You are good" among the Chinese, in Russia the greeting word contains a wish of health, in Belarus they often wish good morning (afternoon, evening). However, despite national differences in the external expression of the greeting, its meaning always remains the same - a manifestation of attention and goodwill towards the interlocutor.

But, no matter how wonderful the World Hello Day is, it must be remembered that goodwill towards others should be shown not only on November 21. It is very important to turn it into a daily practice, because only through polite communication, showing respect for the interlocutor, without resorting to threats or the use of force, can any dispute be successfully resolved.