Growing up, I had a poster hanging on my bedroom wall. It said, "When you smile at the world, the world smiles back." There was a black background, and a clown sitting on it's knees wearing a white clown costume. It was truly weird. And actually kinda scary. I would stare at it endlessly. I really had no idea what it meant for a long time. I just thought it meant I should smile a lot. And then I forgot about it for over a decade. Have you ever noticed how irate people get when they are impatient and waiting in line for...anything? It seems like folks simply aren't at their best when they are waiting in line. And you want to tap them on the shoulder and tell them everything will be OK. That they probably really aren't even mad about what they are currently focusing their attention on. But I assume I'll get slugged and I don't want to be involved in a physical altercation. So I shut up and think about how I don't want to be that person.
Many years later, the phrase from my youth came into my head and I had an "a ha" moment. I started thinking about what kind of energy I put out there in the world. I realized that you really get back what you put out there. I try to give a sincere smile to all the unknown people that cross my path every day. I smile with my eyes so they know I mean it. I think it matters.
