All I Did Was Smile

--by dewolfe, posted Oct 3, 2008

One day I was going home and jumped on the LRT (train). There was one seat compartment that was empty except for a 'dirty' run down looking man obviously coming down off of something. Although there were two empty seats across from him, and one beside him, and the train was jam packed, no one would sit there. Me, being me, waltzed into the train car, sat directly across from him, looked him in the eye and smiled. The look of shock, shame and amazment on his face is a look I will never forget.

He was obviously shocked that someone would sit across from him when a train full of people had done their best to avoid him so far. After he got over the shock, you could see the shame on his face, and you knew it was because of his appearance and how his problems, addictions, whatever they were, were so obvious. I figured this because immediately after the shock he kinda straightened his posture and slicked his hair down and made an attempt at a subtle 'clean-up' of his appearance. He never said anything, he never tried to get closer. All he did after trying to clean himself up was stare out the window and occasionally look at me with a baffled smile.

When we arrived at his stop (I had one more to go) he stood while averting his eyes, then, right before going out the door, he put on this great big sincere smile and said 'have a good day!' as well as he could through his hazed slurring. Just the look on his face and that smile are things I will never ever forget. All I did was smile and that was the reaction got, it was amazing.

5729 Reads

Posted by dewolfe
Oct 3, 2008
Comments (29)

Readers Comments

BedBug wrote: Thanks for sharing.

lovebug wrote: Loved your story, it could be my own. Loved the comment from toni "you saw him". To my way of thinking, that says it all.

Toni wrote: It wasn't just the smile. You saw him, really saw him, and by sitting by him (and smiling), you said: i accept you as you are, thereby making it easier for him to do the same. I believe that's what angels do.

samson wrote: You refresh my soul with this your smile. Thanks.

ethan wrote: You are very nice to that person

Mac9 wrote: Thank you for a beautiful reminder of what humanity means.

Ilive2Uplift wrote: Simply beautiful!

smile wrote: It is not difficult to smile why not we do. And you will see how beautiful world are.

jona wrote: Smile is just a simple gesture if you think but it can give much satisfaction and hapiness to others. Keep smiling you can make the whole world smiling too.

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