Maybe I should actually try and do this.

There is a serious lack of moral ethics in our society. There are few role models that we can look up to that promote an honest lifestyle as a successful one. Many people think only of themselves and use others in order to make themselves more accomplished.

As an individual, I propose smiling. Mother Theresa said, “Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.” Mother Theresa herself was a beautiful person, and I think that if more people took her words to heart, then the world would be a better place. Simple, starting with a smile. I wholly believe that everyone looks better when they smile. A simple facial expression can change lives. A smile is warm and inviting; friendly. If I smile at someone, maybe even a stranger, then there’s a chance that they may smile back. If they do, then I’ve changed their life, even if in the smallest of ways.

A smile may then lead to a conversation. Conversation is like breathing life into a friendship. Maybe my fellow smiler has had something weighing them down for awhile, maybe I can help them. In fact, I know that I can help them. Sometimes people are just looking for a willing ear. The art of listening is something that is being forgotten. People need to remember to simply listen to others, take in what they’re saying. It doesn’t matter if I can’t form an appropriate answer or I can’t sympathize with them, just listening is enough. In another case, if they don’t have anything on their shoulder, I can talk to them. Get it out, whatever it is that I’m keeping bottled up inside of me will be better out in the open, free, and breathing, not inside my soul, suffocating my heart. If neither of us have anything bothering us, or simply don’t feel like spilling, then share a story! Everyone loves a story, I know I do. I’ll tell my new friend about my favorite restaurant, the best book I’ve ever read, or my first kiss! They’ll be enraptured. In return, I must listen to their stories, although that’s not a very hard task to perform. Talking and listening, it’s like the inhaling and exhaling of friendship. Both completely necessary for changing the world, one smile at a time. At the end of our elaborate and friendly conversation, I’ll invite them to a party or dinner! There, they will smile and converse with my other friends and acquaintances, expanding their circle of love, all because of my simple smile.

Hopefully, these people will learn from my smile. Perhaps they will smile to a stranger on a street, start conversations, share stories, and make new friends. In this way I hope to extend kindness to different circles of love. It will extend to people’s friends, families, businesses, institutions. In this way we will all be connected in one way or another. They love that feeling of inclusiveness and will hopefully wish to spread it to the people that they pass, but never really see. We will be connected through our beliefs, and our friends. Our belief that a smile can change someone’s life by snowballing into friendships and fun memories! We will not want to hurt one another, because we know that being kind and listening is more rewarding than hurting. So I propose smiling, because I believe a simple smile can change the world into something beautiful.