It was an out-of-schedule shopping trip to Lulu for portable heaters that gave me the gift of a heartwarming encounter in Qatar. As my husband and I waited for the elevator to come up, a lady clad in the traditional “abaya” approached the lift with a microwave in her cart. I smiled. She smiled. When the elevator door opened, we realized that two carts would hardly fit inside. So I said, “Please go ahead.” She replied in English, “I think we will fit.” Thus, we rolled our carts in and all three of us squeezed in.
She then asked us where we are from. “The Philippines”, I answered. She smiled once again and added, “Oh, I thought you were from Japan.” My husband’s chink-eyes fooled her.
In the course of that very brief elevator ride, we told her how long we had been in Doha and we learned that she is Qatari. Before long we were at the ground floor. She pushed her cart out ahead of us, her lips still curled into a smile. As she walked away, she turned and said, “Have a good stay in Doha.” leaving us with yet another sweet smile.
When she wished us well on our stay here, it was as if the enclosures of the tiny elevator were not so confining anymore. That’s exactly what her smile did. It broke down walls and gave my evening a happy ending.
Whoever said, “a smile is a curve that sets everything straight” is very wise, indeed. It is like a magic eraser capable of removing less-than-flattering first impressions or the trauma of a better-forgotten experience. Take the case of my dear Filipina friend whose car was bumped from behind by another vehicle. I think she did something the rest of us may find difficult to do. She smiled at the other driver and said calmly, “I’m sorry we have to meet this way. I’m Mrs.___________.” Was the other driver disarmed? You bet! All defenses were lowered down bringing the situation to an amicable close.
To this day, the memory of her smile warms my heart better than the portable heater warms my body. Indeed, a smile flashed with sincerity cannot be barred from being a rainbow that connects, not the sky to the pot of gold, but people to people, making them diamonds to each other and, therefore, precious. As such, it colors the similarities among people and shades their differences, the better to make the world a pleasant habitat.
 |
| An excerpt from QATAR NARRATIVES, released in May 2008, and now on sale at Virgin Megastores, Jarir Bookstore, Waqif Art Center in souq Waqif, and Dutyfree at Doha International Airport. |
Many times, a tragic moment like that can turn into a “magic moment” by the power of a smile, especially from a child. Notice how hard it is to stay angry as soon as a tyke smiles at you. I think children hold the imprimatur on the universal quality of a smile. When a baby smiles, it is not because of the other person’s color, culture or religion, except perhaps if he wears a clown’s colors on his face. The baby just smiles! Perhaps out of joy, contentment, comfort or amusement.
A sage of a friend once told me that when I smile I should do so with every molecule in my body so that even during a telephone conversation, the other party could feel my smile, if not see it.
...
|
_thumb.jpeg&w=100)
by noman
