"WORLD HELLO DAY - November 21, 2005
Greet Ten People For Peace!
November 21, 2005 is the 33rd annual World Hello Day. World Hello Day was begun in response to the conflict between Egypt and Israel in the Fall of 1973. Since then, World Hello Day has been observed by people in 180 countries. Anyone can participate simply by greeting 10 people. People around the world use the occasion of World Hello Day as an opportunity to express their concern for world peace. Beginning with a simple greeting on World Hello Day, their activities send a message to leaders, encouraging them to use communication rather than force to settle conflicts."

Hmm... that is all well and good - on the surface anyway... however, my personal experience has been that 8 out of 10 people who say "hello", "hi", "olà", "està là", "bom dia", "salut" or "bonjour" to me (and my execrable landlord says "bonjour" all the time... arrrgh!) are quite insincere when they do so! :(

Not sure if the ratio would get better if people said "aloha", "hallo", "hej", "privet", "jambo" "konnichiwa", "ni hao", "ciao", "marhaba", "hola" or even "shalom" or "namaste" to me... I need to... ah... travel more to find out for sure! ;)