The Smile Manifesto

I’ve recently concluded that the only worthwhile activity that a human being can engage in is smiling, and, by extension, laughing.  What’s more, there is no rational reason to ever not be smiling or laughing, and that smiling and laughing are always possible.

We’ve been misled. What’s worse, we misled ourselves.  Convinced that smiling is the province of happiness, of glee, of something shining and carefree, we have missed countless opportunities to display our love of the world.

So I’m inviting you, kind reader, to follow my example.  When scared, laugh at your fear.  When wronged by circumstance, laugh your defiance in the face of the fates.  When wronged by someone else, laugh in the indiscernible face of human nature.  When heartbroken, laugh and smile that time might allow you to glue it back together, and when your head aches, laugh and smile that it usually doesn’t.  And when your unhappy…well, smile that you’ll be happy again, and that it is just a matter of time.

Go stomp in a puddle, laughing to see the way in which the muddy water sprays across the cracked cement.  Then do yourself a favor, and smile as your socks squish and squash all the way home.  Swim across the river to see what’s on the other side; when you find nothing, smile that you may have learned something new that day.  Perhaps the grass is always greener; what made green grass the only desirable grass?  Perhaps every gift has a hook; don’t you owe existence the shirt off your back?

Smile.  Laugh.  Life is timed.  The worse thing you can do is be certain that you have no reason to smile and laugh; certitude is the ultimate enemy of existence, and the closest sycophant of human nature.  There is nothing to be certain of except the luck of being alive.