Thank you. Well, according to the United Nations, the 30th of July is the International Day of Friendship. In a time when the noise of division grows louder, fuelled by wars, conflicts, inequality, and fear, friendship builds, almost radical in its simplicity. It doesn't arrive with fanfare or policy. It doesn't need speeches or signatures.

It begins with something quieter, a conversation, a shared moment, a willingness to see one another, not as strangers, but as fellow travellers through the human experience. In this year's observance of the International Day of Friendship, we are reminded that real peace is forged not only in negotiation halls or by writing into treaties. It builds thread by thread in the trust we extend to one another in daily life. Friendship, especially among young people, holds a special kind of power. It can cross languages, faiths, and histories that might otherwise divide us. It invites us to listen before we judge, when more than a bond, it becomes a blueprint for reconciliation.

It teaches us that understanding isn't a grand achievement. It's a habit, a practice, and a way of moving through the world that says, your wellbeing matters to me. This year as the world faces profound ruptures between nations, within societies, and even within families, the call to friendship is not sentimental.

It's essential. It's about reaching across what breaks us and daring to believe in something better. It is a call to imagine a future where difference doesn't mean distance. We trust, which is stronger than fear, and through friendship. We don't just cope with the world as it is, we begin to shape the world as it could be.

For the meal, we are about to have, for those that made it possible and for those with whom we are about to share it, we are thankful. Thank you.

Thank you Phil Endersbee.

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