When I lived on Venice Beach
my nickname was “Smiley”
because I smiled at everyone
When I lived in Luxembourg
I was not understood
because I smiled at everyone
When I was a child
my mother made a game of smiling
and when she saw someone unhappy
on the street or in their car
she would smile at them
until they finally smiled back
and only rarely did her efforts fail
I have been considered shallow
by those who never knew me
because I smile at everyone
but those people have no clue
how much inner strength
those smiles represent