Your smiling face…

I went to town last Sunday afternoon as I had something to do. You see with all the nice and happy visitors that I had, I was thinking that from all the positive vibes, Lady Luck would be smiling on me. I parked my car and went about doing what I had to do and in just a couple of minutes, I was on my way back to the vehicle. Before I could get to it, a car drove into the parking space beside mine.

No, no…I don’t have a problem with that. In fact, the problem was mine, all mine. You see, I had parked, still within the parking space, a bit too much to the right and the lady had parked a bit too much to the left so it was virtually impossible for me to get into the driver’s seat. After she had got out of her car, I asked her if she would take a long time to do whatever she was going to do and she said no…so I said it was all right then, I would just wait a while for her, no worries!

She took a bit longer than I had anticipated but it was perfectly okay by me. After all, it was a Sunday afternoon and I had nothing planned and had all the time in the world so I was in no hurry whatsoever. Finally, she emerged from the shop where she had gone to tapao (takeaway) some packets of chicken rice. I looked at her, wanting to smile at her as a gesture of appreciation that  she did not take too long and she would be driving off in a jiffy and I would be able to get into my  car but not only did she look quite unhappy…

…but she did not even bother to look in my direction as she walked past right in front of me as if I were invisible.

What is the world coming to, I wondered? I remember the time when people were all very cordial, very warm and amicable even to people they did not know – after all, it does not cost anything, does it? What’s wrong with just flashing a smile? Usually, when in such a situation, the people concerned would smile at one another and maybe, carry out some small talk. Perhaps one would say, “Banyaknya beli?” (Buying so much?) and the other would probably reply jokingly, “Yalor! Semua si-rangkak kat rumah!” (All the greedy people at home!) which, of course, is not meant to be taken seriously and both would laugh and go their separate ways, feeling tickled and happy inside. Perhaps people don’t do that anymore these days and have this tendency to eye the others with utter distrust or suspicion?

I noticed that the car next to hers had parked more to the left as well (also within the parking space) so it was not that easy for her to get into her car and of course, she could manage as she was neither my shape nor my size…but there was another vacant parking space after that car which made me wonder why she did not park her car in that one. I suppose that would mean she would have to walk the additional distance of an extra two parking spaces to get to where she was going…and that’s one thing many would not want to do. If they could, they would drive right into the shop to buy what they want. Just look at all those (luxury/big) cars parked illegally by the side of the narrow roads or on the pavement right outside the coffee shops in town and you’ll get what I mean.

Or perhaps the lady had a load on her mind  and that probably was why she did not bother at all to smile and try to be friendly to one of her fellow-human beings. After all, life today, it seems, is like a pressure cooker, so stressful that each individual is like a walking time-bomb…about to explode any minute now.

Come! Go ahead, make someone’s day! Smile…and the whole world smiles with you. It will do wonders, believe you me.