Smile

So, let me start this blog post with a simple riddle. What is the longest word in the dictionary? No, it's not supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, neither is it a dozen of words currently in your mind. The correct answer is Smiles, simply because it has a "Mile" between the first and last word.

A smile certainly is important. If the eyes are a window to the soul, a smile is the welcome sign of the soul, because it hangs at the "doorway" of the soul, the mouth. A smile can tell others your intention. Are you an evildoer, are you a being of malice, or are you just a simple, sweet person wanting to make friends.

I got my STPM results the other day, and my results were less than expected. I raged, I cried, I screamed, and in the end, I made a decision. I would never let my emotions control me.

So I went around, telling my friends that my smile had died. Died and was buried under 10 feet of concrete and thrown to the seas, along with my hopes and dreams. Ideals. Aspirations. All of these left me when I lost in the race called STPM.

This got me thinking. As an unfeeling, unthinking, unsmiling "thing", I could observe a lot of things. I could observe the smile from a distance.

The other day, before my smile "died", I went to work with my mother as a crew member for "Ah Boys to Men 2" roadshow. In Penang, the invited guests for the roadshow that day were a number of people from a Home for the Mentally Handicapped. They were very friendly, and most importantly, they kept smiling. They didn't care who you were, they didn't care what you did, they just smiled at you, and was grateful for anything you did for them.

This got me thinking. Their smiles were pure, innocent and just a smile in its purest form. They had no worries, no complaints. No thinking about exams, about taxes, about pain and hurt. No malice, no misery. It was a smile that continues to ring on my head even after a week. Their smile was something that I knew, deep down, that I could never achieve in my life.

I find it ironic, to be honest. That I, despite constantly telling my friends to perk up, cheering them up, being the class clown, would lose my smile. It was like Thor losing his hammer and bravery, Iron Man losing his Arc Reactor, Hulk losing his Anger (Sorry, I'm not really that good with similes. Oh look, Similes. A letter away from miles. Oh wait, this should be the longest word in the Dictionary. An extra 'i'.). In fact, this is so ironic and painful for me and my friends.

Anyways, a smile is a powerful thing. It can change someone's life, if given at the best moment. As such, I end this post with Two kinds of smile. You decide which one to emulate...

Ahem.

Ahem ahem.