Smiling First, Smiling Often, Smiling My Way Through Life

CAN'T WE ALL JUST GET ALONG?, the familiar refrain goes, as if doing so is merely a matter of will, of decision, of determination. Well, maybe it is. Maybe we should all, meaning all members of the human species, make a solemn determination to get along, under all circumstances, at all cost.. I try to help. I try to smile, a lot. My problem is, when I relax all of my facial muscles, and make no attempt to convey any emotion at all with my facial expression - I look mean, and angry. At least, I look that way to other people, and, truth be told, I kinda look that way to myself in the mirror. And, I swear, I don't intend it to be that way, but, as we say these days, it is what it is. I can be the happiest person in the world, or the most rexaxed and content at any given moment, but if I don't put a smile on my face, if I just relax and make no facial expression, I look mad, no matter how happy and content I actually am. And this simply won't do. To counteract the effect I have learned to smile, a whole lot, at everybody, particularly strangers, who might be most vulnerable to misinterpretation of my face. This is extremely important to me. Otherwise, everyone looks at me with an angry expression on their faces, as if imitating me, or getting even with me, or perhaps, out of respect, or a perceived need to conform to me, for some reason, which seems doubtful. Or maybe they're thinking that they simply cannot possibly be the first to smile, because it might make them look or be vulnerable, vulnerable to the horrible possibility of giving warmth and not getting it back. As mean as I look, well, they have to look mean right back at me, to keep it even, to keep it fair. Hell, I don't know. All I know is, it gets depressing, going through life with everyone scowling at me because they mistakenly think I'm scowling at them. Americans, in my humble opinion, are not very good at giving out the first smile, but tend to be darned good at returning smiles. So I'll just keep right on smiling at everyone, thus improving my life, and, maybe a fad will sweep across America in which it becomes terribly fashionalbe to smile first, no matter what. Doubtful, but it could happen.