Sun smile
The sun shone brightly on the ground in front of her feet as she pondered the reality of light. How did light get here? Who made it and why?
She instinctively stepped into the sun spot and instantly felt warmer, brighter, and fuller of life and energy. The sun wrapped her in comfort and stability for, if nothing else, she could always count on the sun waking her up most mornings (other than the occasional rainy day, of course). Its predictable radiance felt like the mother she never had as her childhood was characterized more so by pain and heartache than comfort and love. She stepped out of the sunlight and felt that all-too-familiar anxious pang in the pit of her stomach as she remembered how horrible it was to live in her childhood home.
Memories flooded her mind as she unsuccessfully tried to block them out by thinking good thoughts. Oh how she wished she could curl up in the middle of the sun and allow its love to encase her for all eternity. But, no, she was stuck here on earth with those who didn’t feel the sun’s rays the same way she did, who didn’t feel deeply connected to this amazing source of life.
All she could do was stand in the sun on occasion and shut out the rest of the world for a little while. Maybe if she stood here long enough they would cease to exist. The sound of her cell phone playing its predictable tune brought her out of her thoughts and the warmth of the sun as she went inside to take the call. Another client, another sales pitch, another moment of feeling disconnected from people. Tonight would be no difference as she would go home and try to make small talk with her husband over the dinner table, all the while wishing she was communing with the sun instead. Just as she was feeling really sorry for herself, she was met with a smile from a perfect stranger, passing through the office. The feeling created by the smile reminded her of something very familiar. She paused, reflecting on the sensation deep inside of her and realized that she just felt the sun shining on her, only this time it was in the form of another human being.
Funny how she had been smiled at a million times before, but this was the first time she felt the actual essence of it. At that moment she saw that humans have as much of the sun in them as the sun itself; they’re just not used to letting themselves shine. “Why bother when very few of us embody this? Why does it matter since we’re all just out for ourselves?” She now knew that all it took was one smile—one ray of light to change the world, for in that smile shines the entire force that is the giver of all that is. One smile passed from stranger to stranger will lighten the whole world.