Many years ago while in college, I was run over on my bicycle by a van on my way to class. I suffered the worst road rash you might imagine across my face and my shoulders. Much of my hair was pulled out and my face was a series of scabs. As soon as people looked my direction, they looked away but not before I saw the alarm in their eyes. My spirits were especially low one day when I found myself waiting in line at a store when I sensed someone looking at me. I quickly glanced up and a little girl was staring at me. As her sweet eyes met mine, her lips formed a wide smile. While I quickly looked down in shame, feeling she would be repulsed when she saw my full face, her smile has never left me. I held on to it the rest of the day and in to the many long nights ahead.
While I couldn’t return the smile to her in that moment, I have since passed it forward a thousand times over remembering the impact her smile had on me. Even today, I can still feel the power of her smile and how it filled my heart with hope and lifted my spirits. I made it through that year and in time my hair grew back; my scabs and even my scars healed. More importantly, I learned that no matter what it is that my eyes might behold, that within each of us is a beautiful being that wants nothing more than to be loved in spite of appearance or even behavior. Rather than stand in judgment of what someone looks like or acts like, may we all be kind to others. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tsu taught, “Someone must risk returning injury with kindness or hostility will never turn to goodwill.”
While I may not remember exactly what that little girl looked like, I do remember her heartfelt eyes and her precious smile. It lives in me forever and whenever I feel low for whatever reason, I remember her priceless smile and it immediately gives me hope. I realize the world is full of love. If we could all pass a little love forward each day by giving someone a smile, perhaps a stranger, handicapped or able-bodied, happy or not, just smile. It makes a difference. Decades later, I still remember that child’s smile. While my appearance was not wicked in itself, to some that may be how I appeared. Lao Tsu taught that by staying calm and under the radar in the face of any discord, others will ultimately join you in friendship and trust; the best way to cast out wickedness is to elevate others with your deeds. A deed so simple as a smile has the power to change someone’s day or even their life. A smile changed me.
Sources:
Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao by Wayne Dyer
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