Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Smiling is Catchy

Good morning.  How do you like that moon?  It's not a picture that I took, but it is exactly what the moon looked like this morning.  Pretty fantastic, huh?  Actually, I've had a strange, but lovely morning.  I left my house and headed off to work and noticed that all the girls who were going to school looked at me and smiled.  Well, that's certainly a shocker!  I'm so used to being looked at like I was born on another planet.  Think I have to explain that comment.

I live in a predominantly Hasidic neighborhood...and not only do they rarely if ever, smile at you, the children stare with these looks on their faces which say, "That one must have just stepped off the spacecraft."  I'm serious, here my friends.  Picture this.  You are walking down the street, and there are children playing...and as you pass by, they stop whatever they are doing to stare at you with these "I don't believe what I am seeing faces".  I kid you not.  And this is why I don't spend much time in my backyard either, for they can be in the midst of the greatest, must fun game in the world, and let me open my door to hang my clothes on the line, and they drop everything to run to the fence to stare...like they have never seen someone hang clothes before.  And the little ones then start those never-ending 'hello's'.

Please, don't get me wrong.  I'm not prejudiced and am not putting down a religion.  To me, they are human beings just as I am, and I respect their beliefs...even though I may not agree with them.  So, all I ask for is respect.  Say 'thank you' when I hold the door for you  and teach your children that it is not polite to stare.  But, heck, here I am well off topic...again.


So, back to smiling. Now, the girls I am talking about were Hasidic teenage girls, so it was quite a shock to me that they smiled.  Then, I realized, I was smiling. Could it really be that they smiled back?  Has spring finally caught up with everyone?  For, I've smiled before and never gotten these results.   Perhaps the beauty of the day has caught up with everyone.  Too bad it couldn't be like this everyday.  A smile doesn't hurt anyone, and it is so much better than a frown.


Again, let me stress...this post was not meant to offend anyone.

7 comments:

  1. ~so happy for your morning...may the beauty that spread this morning be passed along throughout your day and remain...smiles are always a pleasant gesture so many forget to do...warm wishes and brightest blessings~

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  2. Smiles (hopefully) will not offend anyone...keep smiling...never know what reaction you'll get...

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  3. Sounds like . . . "Smile, and the world smiles with you!" Ha ha!

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  4. So true - when I'm smiling - people smile back. Even if they are staring - lol!

    Hope the rest of your week is full of smiles too!

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  5. I was reading Simple Abundance once and it said to smile at all you met that day.. and I did.. and you know.. most people looked at me like I was from another planet.. and one person even asked me what the hell I was smiling at!!

    and a question: what is Hasidic? never heard that word before :)

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  6. Smiles are contagious. Not to mention how wonderful they make a face look. Keep smiling Mary, even when it hurts the most.

    (((HUGS)))

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  7. My father used to always say "a smile doesn't cost a penny but it's worth a million dollars" So true! Glad to hear you're smiling and trying to cope with neighboring children :0) I want to thank you for stopping by Blog and leaving heartfelt sentiments. It really made my day xx

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