A Simple Smile

Every morning I go for a walk down to the beach, and on my way I pass people walking their dogs, who are with their partners, or who are alone. Many of them will greet me with a ‘hi mate’ or ‘good morning’ or just a hand wave. However, many will walk past without any sort of acknowledgment that I am there. I am invisible to them.

 In South Africa there is a greeting that the Zulu’s use, namely “Sawubona’. It means ‘I see you’. It is more than just a polite phrase. ‘Sawubona’ carries the deeper meaning of recognising each person’s worth and dignity.  ‘I see you’, (meaning, you are valuable to me.)

What a difference it makes when one is acknowledged, greeted with a cheerful good morning, or even just a lovely smile. One is never fully aware of what others are going through at that given moment, so any acknowledgment can bless their day.

So, when I came across the following poem, sent to me by a friend, I decided to include it under Costa’s Corner.

                 SMILE

Smiling is infectious
You catch it like the flu
When someone smiled at me today
I started smiling too. 

I walked around the corner
And someone saw my grin
When he smiled I realized
I'd passed it on to him. 

I thought about that smile
And then I realized its worth
A single smile, just like mine
Could travel round the earth. 

So, if you feel a smile begin
Don't leave it undetected
Let's start an epidemic
And get the world infected        

A Poem by Spike Milligan