Give Someone a Feel-Good Shout-out on Israeli-inspired ‘Firgun Day’

Celebrate the success and good fortune of family and friends on an Israeli-inspired day dedicated to simply saying something nice.

By Naama Barak, ISRAEL21c

Ever feel jealous of someone else’s perfect life on social media? First off, you’re not alone. Second, there’s a good chance that that cup of matcha latte exquisitely positioned against the backdrop of your friends’ exotic holiday was actually pretty gross. Not to mention that it was bitterly consumed after a massive fight with their mom.

That’s the difficulty with social media and, well, life itself – it’s so easy to get caught in the rat race and forget to put in a good word on other people’s success and joy. This is where the concept of firgun comes in.

Pronounced FEER-GOON and lacking a proper English-language translation, the Hebrew word basically means paying someone a compliment, saying something nice about them or giving them a shout-out for whatever they did.

Sounds nice, doesn’t it? So nice, in fact, that it even has its own day on the calendar: on July 17, AKA International Firgun Day, people across the world are encouraged to give a shout-out to a deserving someone or something in their life.

Now in its sixth year, the annual celebration was the brainchild of three Jerusalem entrepreneurs, who in 2013 saw a local startup congratulate another for raising money, good wishes that were soon echoed by others in the industry.

“The feeling is that we’re all in the same boat, and the success of one company is the success of the entire ecosystem, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re a secular, ultra-Orthodox or Arab entrepreneur, developer, designer or accountant,” says Roy Munin, CEO of MadeinJLM, an organization that promotes and connects the Jerusalem-based entrepreneurship community. “We sat down and thought how we can spread those good vibes, and that’s how Firgun Day was born.”

Tens of thousands of people have joined the initiative throughout the years, and now you can, too. All you need to do is pick a person, organization or business that deserves a shout-out and post a good word about them and why you chose them on social media using the hashtag #Firgun.

Can’t think of a particularly good word? Go to http://www.firgunator.com/for some creative ideas. Share your thoughts with your social media world and voila, that’s your good deed for the day.

Just don’t forget to reward yourself with a matcha latte afterward.

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