Questions & Answers about Texas Friendship Day (Sunday, August 2, 2009)

QUESTION: I have read that the Texas House of Representatives of the Texas Legislature on June 1, 2009, unanimously approved by voice vote the designation of Sunday, August 2, 2009, as "Texas Friendship Day" throughout all of Texas.

ANSWER: August 2, 2009, is a great day for our entire state that celebrates your Constitutionally protected legal and human right to decide for yourself which individuals you agree to regard as your mutual-consent personal friends. It's a special day that celebrates your own---and millions of other Texans'---Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Mutual-Consent Association, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Access to Reliable Information and Honest Communications, and Freedom of Privacy legal and Constitutional rights.
Personal friendships significantly strengthen our own--and our friends'-- full range of freedoms and rights and privileges in life in a very powerful way. Personal friendships significantly increase our and our friends' options and opportunities in life.

QUESTION: That may all be true, but I myself tend to balk at events that sound like greeting card messages. Give me one solid and tangible and down-to-earth, practical reason why I myself in my own life should choose to celebrate Texas Friendship Day this August during my leisuretime.

ANSWER: Personal platonic relationships account for the vast majority of all personal relationships in your life. It makes sense for you to celebrate and reflect on the value of strictly-mutual-consent, freely-chosen, personal platonic or non-sexual relationships----friendships-----in your own life. They have a pervasive bearing on your own quality of life and level of enjoyment of life.

QUESTION: Could you be more specific?

ANSWER: One sociology professor at the University of North Carolina campus in Greensboro was quoted in "The New York Times" of April 21, 2009, as saying that "Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well-being than family relationships."

QUESTION: That finding is very surprising.

ANSWER: You're right. It differs dramatically from what Americans generally assume. In fact, a six-year study of 736 middle-aged Swedish men determined that attachment to a romantic partner didn't appear to affect the risk of heart attack or fatal coronary heart disease among those men. However, having personal friendships did significantly reduce the risk of Swedish men having a heart attack or fatal coronary heart disease, according to an April 21, 2009, "New York Times" article that was written by Tara Parker-Pope.

QUESTION: From what you are saying, it sounds as if lasting, honest, mutual-consent personal friendships are rejuvenating to the point of life-saving.

ANSWER: Also impressive are results of a 10-year Australian study, concluding that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during that 10-year study period than were older persons with fewer friends, according to the same "New York Times" article of April 21, 2009, that was written by Tara Parker-Pope.

QUESTION: Any other research findings you might mention about the benefits of mutual-consent personal friendships in life?

ANSWER: A study of approximately 3,000 female American nurses with breast cancer determined in 2006 that female nurses without close friends were four times as likely to die from breast cancer as female nurses who each had 10 or more personal friends. This is according to that "New York Times" article of April 21, 2009.

QUESTION: It seems that having mutual-consent and lasting personal friendships is a very powerful form of medicine.

ANSWER: Very much so. In fact, a September 2002 article in "Reader's Digest"
magazine by Katherine Grifin contains an interesting quote about that very same point from Ms. Shelley Taylor, a research psychologist at the University of California at Los Angeles. Social ties are "the cheapest medicine we've got," Ms. Taylor reportedly observed.

QUESTION: That's amazing!

ANSWER: It's a tribute to the healthful effects of mutually-honest, mutually-constructive, kind, privacy-rights-respectful communications and in-person human involvements that we associate with true personal friendships. True mutual-consent personal friends have a depth of devotion and generosity and attentiveness and in-depth interest toward each other, and an enthusiastic affinity for each other, that is very healthy for each of those individuals. True and lasting personal friendships involving frequent exchanges of warm smiles during in-person meetings are far beyond mere acquaintanceships. In fact, I would expect that true personal friends account for a significant percentage of all the words of praise that each of us receives in our personal lives.

QUESTION: You know, I think you have talked me into celebrating Texas Friendship Day on August 2, 2009.

ANSWER: That's great to hear, and you definitely will be a big winner for doing that. Let me cite to you some other tangible benefits from personal friendships. In 2008, Harvard University researchers concluded that strong social ties can protect the health of a person's brain as that individual ages. On a similar note, a three-year study of more than 1,200 senior citizens in Sweden determined in 2000 that those who had satisfying friendships were 40 percent less likely to develop dementia or senility than those Swedish senior citizens studied who either had few personal platonic relationships or unsatisfactory personal platonic relationships. That latter study was reported in the September 2002 "Reader's Digest" magazine article by Katherine Griffin.

QUESTION: But what about the increased exposure to contagious diseases by individuls with lots of friends? Aren't individuals who lead active platonic social lives more likely to catch germs and contagious diseases from all that handshaking and platonic physical contact or physical proximity with their platonic personal friends?

ANSWER: I can offer you a very good response to that question. One study, also cited in the April 21, 2009, "New York Times" article by Tara Parker-Pope, concluded that people with strong personal friendships are less likely than other human beings to contract colds.

QUESTION: I wonder what might account for that latter finding?

ANSWER: According to the "Times" article by Ms. Parker-Pope, individuals who have strong personal friendships experience lower levels of stress than do individuals without strong personal friendships.

QUESTION: Could you tell me more about the September 2002 "Reader's Digest" article noting the wide array of emotional and medical benefits from mutual-consent personal friendships?

ANSWER: I'm glad you asked. That article by Katherine Griffin was entitled, "Friends: The secret to a longer life."

QUESTION: What did that "Reader's Digest" article say?

ANSWER: That September 2002 "Reader's Digest" article states, and I quote verbatim from a portion of that article:

"More than a hundred studies attest to the health benefits of friendship. People with strong social networks are shown to:
---"Boost their chances of surviving life-threatening illnesses.
---"Have stronger, more resilient immune systems.
---"Improve their mental health.
---"Life longer than people without social support."

TEXAS-FRIENDLY FOOTNOTE: Official information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives in 2009 can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132