Monday, October 22, 2007

A Beautiful Smile

I deposited a check at my bank this morning. The teller was a very pretty young woman who smiled as though she meant it. She always does that. She couldn't have been smiling like that because she saw me as a handsome young man she wanted to attract. I'm several decades older than her and not at all handsome. And, besides, she smiles at everyone the same way: with a kind of bashfully warmhearted radiance . She smiles as though it comes from the depths of her soul.

I wonder if it's all a marvelous act and nothing more. I hope not. I hope she does it because she sees and loves what Eknath Easwaran calls the "original goodness" in everyone.

Wherever it comes from, I hope she never loses that smile or that life's hardships and betrayals don't steal it from her. There are few things that can warm the heart and brighten a person's day as much as that teller's beautiful smile. How I wish we could all smile like that. It would bring us all closer to heaven on earth.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

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Anonymous said...

Maybe she's just a nympho.

Steve said...

If only she were and I weren't happily married to another beautiful Asian woman. :-)

Anonymous said...

So you're saying three's a crowd?

Steve said...

Hoarhey--
In most marriages, mine included, yes, I think it most definitely is.