“Laugh and the world laughs with you”
‘Smiling is contagious,’ my aunt always said,’ more contagious than a virus.’ She used to advise us, to our amusement, to smile slightly as we walked along, even when we did not feel like it. A smile, she maintained, tricks the brain into releasing hormones that boost the immune system. Whatever about that, there is no doubt that she drummed into us the power of a smile.’ See the way it brightens up the face’, she would insist, ‘and makes it look more attractive, happy and welcoming. It invites those we meet to smile in return which relieves a tense atmosphere.’
‘The great thing about smiling.’ my aunt would say, ‘is that it costs nothing and can be done at any time in any place. A smile can be caught by anyone; it is wordless, so it can be given even to those who are hard of hearing. It helps to make others happy.’ Whenever my aunt met someone with a grumpy face, she would say ‘You ought to give your face a holiday’ and the remark would usually cause the person to smile and lighten up. I must say, she kept her own advice and always appeared to be in good form with a smile and kindly word for everybody.
Lately, I read that smiling is the best cure for depression and can prolong one’s life. My aunt, had she been alive, would have agreed with that. (She lived to the age of 92). One last thought. In the light of that, a good, New Year’s Resolution for 2022, if not already made, might be to cultivate that welcome smile, remembering the maxim, ‘Laugh, and the world laughs with you. Weep and you weep alone.’
Sr. Una Rutledge, RNDM
SMILE (A song Sr. Marie Lawlor, RNDM likes to sing – Sr Lawlor is a returned missionary from Papua New Guinea, giving 42 years of service to a people who always had a smile).
You can smile,
When you can’t say a word
You can smile,
When you cannot be heard
You can smile,
When it’s cloudy or fair
You can smile any time anywhere.
When the clouds are raining,
Don’t begin complaining
What the world is gaining
Should not make you sad.
Do not be a fretter
Smiling is much better
And a smile can help
To make the whole world glad. . .
By Alfred Ackley, 1935:©John Mooy’s Classroom Song Collection (1970-2015)