SMILE!

I dream of a nation where people will give way to the elderly on the bus and murmur a polite “excuse me” before elbowing their neighbors to get off the bus. I dream of a people who will not fall asleep the moment a heavily pregnant lady steps onto the bus; but instead stand to offer her a seat. In my dream, we are helpful and generous, considerate and polite; not because of any IMF and World Bank meetings, but because we inherently are.

Babies smile as soon as their muscles are developed and only frown and cry when in pain or discomfort; why then does it take so much for adults to smile and so little for them to frown? How is it that a look around the office/street/bus shows only people concentrated upon themselves and lost in their problems; if eyes meet, they quickly look away, without smiling. It’s an old joke among foreigners that if a stranger in Singapore smiles at you, they must either be new to the country; or drunk.

Yet I know many locals who are really nice, friendly and smiley people! What then turns them into sulks in the face of strangers? A friend suggests that the difference between Singaporeans and Americans is that Americans living the suburbs seldom see as many people as we do and so are friendlier. Singaporeans living in such a crowded country tend to see too many people and thus prefer to get lost in themselves.

Entirely possible I’m sure; yet I wish things were different. There is a particular bus driver I know, on service 855 who greets every passenger boarding the bus and goes so far as to ask familiar faces how their workday was! The first time I boarded the bus I was stunned, then I came to look forward to it! The passengers on the bus are the same Singaporeans who will not smile at each other on other busses but on this particular (I call it the “smiley bus”) bus ride, everyone seems slightly more cheerful. It seems the atmosphere in the bus is different; there are many more smiles, and a general sense of happiness among the tired commuters heading home (I usually take this bus at about 8pm).

The smiley driver is not an anomaly in this country, there are other drivers who are equally cheerful and many sales people who make my day with a sweet greeting or a genuine smile. However, more often than not, salespeople look stunned when I wish them a nice day and generally only manage to stammer out a shocked “thanks”. I tell taxi-drivers to drive carefully and take care as I leave their cabs and enjoy the feeling of knowing that I have given him a pleasant surprise and hopefully a smile that will carry him through the next bad customer.

There is a cliched saying that I feel rings true in all our lives, “Don’t frown, because you never know who may be falling in love with your smile”. And not just your smile I say, also your voice when you thank them, or apologise for bumping into them on the bus, or whisper excuse me instead of shoving them to board the train first.

We all smile at our loved ones; why not smile a little more in daily life and perhaps win a few more hearts (I don’t mean stalkers, I mean goodwill of people)! Smiling and being courteous, and having the favour returned is, in my opinion, the first step to being more positive as a people. Turn the frown around for a day, and see how much better you feel at the end of it! Smile, if for no other reason, then because you look better happy!