Smile at Me or Face the Consequences

          There's a great church I attend occasionally that has a woman who dutifully readies the altar for services.  She is absolutely dedicated to her work.

 

          Every now and then we pass one another and I smile.  She won't smile back.

 

          I've made inquiry.  She has good teeth.  She just doesn't smile at anyone. Ever.

 

            I  tried just about everything to break through and get her to smile.  It became a personal challenge.

 

          I finally designed a new tactic.  I decided to give her what I call my "Obama" smile.  You know the smile, the huge grin of joy that has made the President so popular and projects such positive vibes.

 

          You have to be careful with the Obama smile because it threatens to be so broad and beaming that people might think you're  a little goofy.   Although it was little too toothy, Jimmy Carter's great smile got him into the Georgia governor's mansion and then all the way to the White House.

 

          I planned the attack with careful precision.

 

          I knew the hallway she used after services so I was positioned to achieve maximum impact.

 

          She looked right at me and I launched the full Obama smile.  Megalevel.

 

          Nothing.  Nothing at all.  How is this possible?

 

          Is anyone's life so completely encrusted with misery that those facial muscles that otherwise reflect joy are  in a complete state of atrophy?

 

          There's an old song that Nat King Cole   turned into a hit called Smile.

 

          Part of the lyric goes like this:  Smile though your heart is breaking, smile even though its breaking.

 

          Within each one of us is part of  the  divine.  You know, we are all created in the image and likeness of God.

 

          The God part of us may be buried deeply in some.

 

          However, I think the pilot light of God inside of us never goes out.

 

          And where does it show itself?

 

          In your smile.

 

          So don't hold back.  Share the joy that's in you somewhere.

 

          Even if the world seems to be closing in on you, don't let world snuff out your smile.

 

          After all, you might run into me.

 

          Just call me Barack.

 

     

David M. Lynch