Would you pause for just a moment in your travels to help someone in need? The United Nations created this annual reminder to encourage people to find peaceful ways to help and respect each other.

Considering our troubled world’s unending wars, terrorist murders, ethnic hatred and other inhuman horrors, this year’s friendship theme may seem impossible to embrace. The UN believes it’s worth a try, and considerate senior travelers can help support the positive theme.

In you’re roaming in cities where you see examples of tragic homelessness and other human misfortune, make a gesture of friendship and help. Offer words of kindness and pay for a street person’s next meal.