Surprised by Smile

--by xiao, posted Nov 18, 2015

I was walking to a literary event in a cool autumn night in San Francisco. Ahead of me, a homeless-looking man, maybe in his 60s, was pushing an empty shopping cart on the sidewalk in my direction. He pushed the cart left and right, seeming to intentionally block the pedestrians. The pedestrian walking ahead of me avoided him. My heart raced. As I was about to walk to the side too, the cart-pushing man stopped and spoke loudly, "You can't pass by me without a smile!" I happened to be standing right there, surprised. I smiled. He gave me a big child-like smile! Or maybe it was him who smiled first. We looked at each other, eyes to eyes, as we passed by, smiling. We were both innocent kids again. Before he walked across the street, he turned and said,
"Have a great night!"
"You too!" I said.

A large dose of happy juice was shot into the chambers of my heart and then pumped out traveling all the way to my toes. Magic is everywhere if we allow it to happen.

1960 Reads

Posted by xiao
Nov 18, 2015
Comments (15)

Readers Comments

Brindlegirl wrote: What a beautiful teacher this man was. A beautiful example and lesson on basic kindness. Thank you for sharing â™¥

mish wrote: You had a glory-us heart to heart there! :))))). Yes, magic is all around us, for sure and certain. ðŸ˜‹â¤ï¸

RoseMarie wrote: I absolutely loved this simplicity and sincerity which warmed my heart so much thank you for sharing x ðŸ’“

splain wrote: Now that is a man I would love to meet. That is love coming from someone who has nothing. Very heart felt

mindyjourney wrote: Smiles are food for the soul :))).

kjoyw wrote: What an amazing experience! And you and he both as you returned each other's smiles made each other very happy! That's what it's all about.

terre wrote: Thanks for sharing this lovely story.

melnotes wrote: Oh go the happy juice!!!!!

pluto178 wrote: A lovely thing but also his way of keeping contact with other human beings so glad you responded x

penny4them wrote: beautiful ;) xo

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