Just A Smile

Where I live, there is a beautiful woman who has never smiled. At least not that I have seen. She has a delightful husband who makes everyone smile, therefore, I entertained the thought that perhaps he used up all the smiles in the family and there were none left for her. Or perhaps she has had a terrible tragedy and lost the need to smile. It is a mystery to me. Smiling is so very easy and accessible. It speaks no language. Everyone can understand what it says. I have been warned to watch out for creatures who smile only to hide dangerous thoughts behind the smile. I shudder at this and then I remember the polar bear and the crocodile. People with bad intentions do sometimes smile but most of us can see beyond those sorts of smiles. We have clues in the words that go with them or the actions. We know the sales pitch and the false  expressions that are pasted on those folks. But we tolerate the smiles of the advantage-takers and those with Junoesque personalities. We know that the latter have a smile on one side of their face and a sneer on the other. We think perhaps our smiles will outshine the advantage-takers and in some way change them? Ah, and then perhaps not. But smilers don't stop their shining work. There are so many good things to enjoy. It's known that even those incarcerated for years in miserable conditions, never give up hope but find something, perhaps only deep in their minds, that saves them. Perhaps it is what lies outside in the sky or fields or forest or the smallest of creatures that are usually ignored by those who are free. The woman of whom I speak is well-off, she has everything anyone could possibly want but she never smiles. Perhaps she is not unhappy. Perhaps she has simply forgotten how to smile through disuse of that ability. Smiling is so easy and it also feels good especially when you receive a smile back. I don't mean going about with a fool's grin all the time but merely to find something that is easy to smile at. It's in the looking that there is great benefit. Sure, there are horrific news reports to mull over and bills and miseries in the world abroad but no matter how bad, there must be something to smile about. The search is worth the effort. Out walking to the post box the other day, I passed a sign someone had ripped down, one that told there would be yet another development coming to the street. Down would come the trees forever but today, today beneath those trees, there were the most delightful tiny plants emerging in Spring bloom. Most were little more than a quarter of an inch in diameter but there they were, never giving up: blues and purples and white tiny blossoms amongst the greenest of humble greens. No one planted them; they simply grew because that's all they knew. Their innocent promise, made me smile.