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Smile, please!

“Smile all the way, and you’ll be fine. Master the art of smiling, that of turning up the corners of your mouth, lifting up your cheeks, and perhaps sport a dimple.”

    This is what has been taught to us. Smiling is good. Faking it every time, even better. It is a custom that we have to retort to every “how are you” by showing that Mona Lisa smile. You are quintessentially frustrated, angry, melancholy, irritated, sullen or crabby. And the supreme solution for it is to smile. Show your teeth. Grin. The smile therapy. But it doesn’t seem to work. Not for me. I smile often. But that doesn’t mean it is a genuine spread of my lips. Well, I was in a morose mood the other day, and this girl came up to me and asked, “How are you doing?”. And I waspishly replied, “I’m grumpy and angry. But I’m bound to say that I’m fine, isn’t it? Because the word ‘fine’ apparently describes everything- whether you’re happy, sad, joyed, bored, angry, or whatever. So, I’m fine!”

   I immediately, and obviously felt awkward after that. That girl has never since then cropped up that question. Well, there is one thing that a fake smile can definitely not achieve, and that is the sparkle in your eyes when you’re genuinely happy. The forced smile, by all means, can’t work.

   Welcoming 2014, I avow that I will laugh when I’m ecstatic, cry when I’m melancholy, flare when I’m angry. But I’m certainly not going to sport a lie and say that I’m fine. Not if I don’t mean it.

  Do you feel the same?

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