Just Smile

Do you know how they say a little smile wouldn’t hurt? Give a smile to the next person on the bus, or the stranger walking on the street, you never know whose day you might be saving or whose mood you might be lifting.  This was exactly my thought process on the day I met the one person who would change my life for the worse.

I was walking on the street on that very evening, taking my usual stroll, allowing the toil of the week to leave my body, and just enjoying the cool breeze that comes with nighttime when I saw a tall, darkly handsome stranger jogging and passing by me. I smiled graciously at him and continued my walk. I was almost at the end of the lane I was walking on when I felt a tap on my shoulders. I turned and the said stranger was behind me. I said hi and he responded. He said he couldn’t come back to say hi after I smiled at him, and said it was rare to find people who give out smiles easily these days. I laughed and told him that a smile is nothing and he didn’t have to go out of his way to reach out. He said he didn’t mind, and we got talking and he ended up walking me back to my house. I invited him inside, but he declined and said he would rather me go in and get a bottle of water for him. I did that and he left.

Two days after the encounter, I had just come back home from a very stressful day at work. It was very late in the evening, and I was lying down on the sofa just trying to catch my breath when I heard a knock at the door. I glanced at the time; it was past 10 pm. I wasn’t expecting anyone, and my gateman should have informed me if I had a guest coming at this hour. I stood up grudgingly, knowing I was going to give the gateman a piece of my mind and I didn’t bother checking the peephole to know who was knocking. I inevitably opened the door to armed robbers, who pushed me to the floor and raided my house, taking away anything that was of value.

They were about to leave when one came back and decided that I couldn’t be left untouched. He tried to hit me when one held him back, and I saw a tattoo on his wrist, a drawing of an eagle. It looked vaguely familiar, and it dawned on me that when I gave water to the stranger days ago, it was the same tattoo that was on his wrist. I was too overwhelmed to speak and watched them leave.

So maybe a smile could inevitably lift someone’s mood, and save you from danger when you least expected it.