When Children Smile

“Go ahead, smile!”
my mother would whisper to me,
whenever she was anxious herself,
having to face intimidating or worrisome people.
In moments of humiliation,
my smile shielded and strengthened her.
“Go ahead, smile!”
Because a child’s smile hides
all the suffering and uncertainty in the world.
In India, they say,
“Children are the world’s smiles,” and it’s true.
Aren’t children the ones who bring us all together,
when their parents are fed up with begging and pleading?
Their smiles stop the questions and the criticisms.
It’s their strength, their strength as children,
that finds friends for their families.
They play, they run, they grow up
in rundown neighborhoods,
in slums squeezed between highways and factories.
They shout too loudly.
They disturb their whole class.
In church they can’t keep quiet or stop fidgeting.
But when they feel touched by your love,
they beam the most irresistible smiles at you.

(…)

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