On the road…again!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

On Smiles

If you are curious about where you might look to personally see almost everybody smiling, you might try a Catholic church, just after the priest says, “Let us show one another a sign of our love.”  The Footloose Forester has noted many scenes of smiling parishioners everywhere he has attended Mass, in many states and in many countries.  Why all the smiles?  Because a smile is a confection on the path to and from the heart, an unplanned reflex that is conjured up from our innermost selves and comes directly from the heart.  Nobody instructs the parishioners to smile, that body language is an involuntary sign of their humanity, each and everyone--individually.

Smiles have no religious context. Nor are they a part of spoken language.  A stranger in a foreign land can speak a smile, and all of the recipients of the smile will understand.  A smile from the others is also understood. No translation is required.   A smile costs nothing to bestow.  Sweet smiles are remembered and cherished.

The Footloose Forester is not a smiling guy, by nature.  Many times in the past, he was prompted to smile.  Perhaps the others thought that he wasn’t happy. But a visage stuck in neutral is not a sign about the happiness quotient in his heart.  His roommate in college revealed that the Footloose Forester smiles with his eyes.  Body language is real, and Dr. Bruce Hamilton hit the nail on the head.