Smiles

Have you ever paid attention to the way people smile? I did, and, sadly, many smiles remained encrusted on the lips never to rise to the eyes. If you will only take the time to study the people who pass you by, you’ll notice they are in a hurry, their thoughts darkened by exhaustion or unhappiness. I wonder about the misfortunes threatening their hearts. Concealed inside our shells, some of us forget that our time is limited. Should we try to change our perspective on what is truly meaningful in life? Should we go around spreading joy or should we hide in the confinement of our souls pretending we live?

Once upon a time, I lost sight of what was truly important and I wandered between dark alleys chasing dreams. And, when I reached the one I thought I wanted the most, I realized I had lost something special. I lost myself. The journey back was terrifying since I didn’t know what to expect. I was one of the people who only moved their lips pretending to smile. But the smile didn’t reach my eyes. A thought had cropped in my mind. What if smiling will be illegal in one hundred years? What if all dreams will die?

Will the hope survive?

In an old bag, behind boxes covered in spider webs, I discovered something special, something I received many years ago: love letters. I asked myself if today anyone writes letters to the special people in their lives. I read them, one by one, and something incredible happened. I finally smiled, but not only with the quick move of my lips, but with my eyes too, and I realized that happiness came in the shape of the old love letters. Someone considered me special and he made sure that, after many years, when I had stumbled across those letters, I remembered what brought us together in the first place.

How many others find themselves in similar circumstances as I? Probably many. Everyone has a choice: to go with the flow and pretend to live or to take charge of his happiness. Be with the people who make you happy, do the things that satisfy you, give to the ones you cherish without expecting much in return.