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Children and Being Sweet to Strangers

Children sometimes have a remarkable way to give adults life lessons. One of the lessons I get a few weeks ago is to be less suspicious to strangers. Just relax and give your best smile to strangers. Who knows what impact could your smile brings to that stranger life. :)

Para siswa SMP suatu SLB. Perhatikan, nggak ada yang nggak ketawa di foto ini. Their circumstance doesn't keep them from laughing so hard.:")

Saturday, February 4th 2017

This morning, I had something to do at the campus. As I walked there, I met a little girl carrying a bucket of water. Her hip tilted to her right side, because of the heavy burden she had. Her hair was done in a neat ponytail. Her skin had a color of golden tan, typical Javanese feature. She was probably around 9 or 10 years old. As we came closer and our eyes met, I realized, she had been looking at me expectantly the whole time. It's as if she'd been waiting for me to do something. So I smiled slowly, anticipating her feedback. Surprisingly, she smiled to me as broadly as I would to a nice friend. I felt guilty for smiling half-heartedly earlier. Had I known she'd be smiling that wide, I would not hold back my smile.

Then I walked again for some length, less than a kilometer, till I met another sweet girl. This one looked a little older than the one before. She wore school uniform. She brought a backpack. Certainly, she was just going home from school. Just like the previous, this older girl also looked at me expectantly. I should have learnt from my last encounter, that I could smile broadly to her. Yet, I was scared. Of what? I didn't even understand. Maybe of being rejected. But I tried to smile anyway. Slowly. And... She smiled back. Broadly and with wide eyes! Gosh... I should have predicted her response. Another wave of guilty washed over me. As I walked another five steps, I couldn't help myself to look back at her. The girl was still there. She turned herself back, so that she could look at me. Probably wondering, why did I smile to her? For the last time, I smiled and went on.

That moment, I wondered. Why do adults hold back their smile and niceties to strangers, while children would just do it, without too much thought?

I think it has something to do with how children perceive the world. For them, this world is filled with hope and love. They are not suspicious at all. They don't understand fight and war. They don't understand grey. What they know is life is beautiful, in which they have so much wishes and dreams soon to be reached.

Sometimes we need to learn from those bubbly, happy, children. Sometimes we have to lower our criticizing urge and give compliments instead. Sometimes we should see, that life is amazing despite its flaws. And that having a perspective of a kid, who can see a silver lining even in the darkest cloud, will come handy in any time hardships burst into our life.

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