This weekend, I had tweeted a message challenging my twitter followers to ‘smile’ and give a word of encouragement (or inspiration) to a stranger because by doing so, we just might change a person’s ‘light’ or life, even… I saw a comment on Facebook in relation to the aforementioned twitter message from Marie; basically stating that we should in essence do this year around and her comment got me to thinking… So her suggestion inspired me to write this blog and challenge everyone on a broader scale to give ‘a smile’ and words of encouragement to a stranger. I also wanted to share my most recent story regarding this matter.
For starters, I have always given a smile and words of encouragement to people that I don’t know and my most recent words of encouragement was to a young lady I had come across while visiting my close relatives… I was sitting in my parked car in my sister’s neighborhood talking on my cellphone… As I was talking, I noticed a vehicle driving up on the opposite side of the street… The car was quickly parked and out jumps this very attractive young lady… She appeared to be in her mid-twenties… Although her hair was pulled back in a pony-tail, it (her hair) still looked a bit disheveled… Sshe was moving at a frantic pace and appeared to be pretty stressed in the face… She reached in the back of her car seat to release a toddler girl – appearing to be about 4 years of age. .. I watched this young lady quickly pick up her child and guardedly walk her off to a nearby home… She never noticed me watching her the whole time… A couple of minutes later, the same young lady previously described and mentioned, returned to her vehicle without the child (still at a face and frantic pace) and when she was about to open the car door, I quickly rolled down my window to get her attention… I said “Excuse me! Excuse me Miss” – She stopped and looked over in my direction and I said with a smile “Hi, I just wanted to tell you that you have a very beautiful spirit and beautiful bone structure to match, you should consider getting into some modeling”… She smiled back and me and said, “thank you” -- “I was actually thinking about doing it (modeling) but I am so busy with motherhood, school and work, I have no time to do it” I said, to her “you must find the time to do it -- I have an eye for these things” and she smiled again and said, ‘thank you, I will’… Her whole vibe instantly changed and she even slowed down her pace a bit and of course, she drove off…. As she droved off and got a little closer to my car, she looked at me again and smiled even more brightly than before…
Here’s the irony, I had come that very same day to visit my sister because they had asked me to hang out with them for a movie and then to a restaurant… We were also slated to meet up with some other relatives and have a big POW-WOW for the weekend! The restaurant that we had originally planned on going to after the movies was Fridays. We had actually gone to Fridays but we sat and waited for service too long and the customer service was just crappy! So, we all got up and left that particular place… We were thinking about going across town to another Fridays but since it was getting late, we decided to go somewhere else and so, it was decided that we go to Apple Bees instead… Keep in mind that none of us had been to this particular restaurant in years! When we got there and was seated, to my slight surprise, I look up and see the same young lady that I had seen earlier! She was there, working as a waitress! She didn’t work our table but when I saw her, she had a glow and was walking with a level of confidence and calmness that I didn’t see from her, just a few hours earlier! She never saw me there because she was too focused on her job and her customers… This was synchronization and a full circle moment this was indeed.
I share this story because again, I have done this time and time again… You never truly know how much a smile and a few words of encouragement and inspiration can or will affect a total stranger, until you do it frequently enough! So again, I challenge all who read this message to do this same – it doesn’t cost you anything but a little bit of care and time, which can go a very long way! Another divine gift, that may ‘keep on giving’.