Smiling At Everybody, Just To Be Safe

MORE THAN MOST WHITE PEOPLE, I can imagine what its like to be black, or rather, to be met with unfriendliness because of the way I look. Oh, I'm handsome enough. In fact, women seem to like me. But unless I happen to be smiling, I look angry, mean, as if in a bad mood. Most people who've never seen me respond to me by frowning or scowling, as if to mimic me, as if unconsciously assuming my facial expression. This has happened all my life, so, its real. The older I get, the more pronounced it becomes, as my face ages into a deeper unintentional but natural frown. People, sometimes even if they know the real, gregarious me quite well, take one look at me, and their face starts to reflect what they think they see in mine; anger. Fortunately, there's an easy remedy; all I have to do is smile, and the other person's mimicing scowl melts away, without him or her probably even knowing it happened, since it was never anything more than a shallow, reflexive reaction. So, my stern looking face is not so much a curse, as an opportunity. I never mention to anyone their reaction; people always deny doing it, as if people can see their own faces. Sometimes I take the plunge and directly explain to people that, no, I am not frowning, I'm not angry, and I hate neither the world nor them personally. It just looks that way. They act like they have no idea what I'm talking about. Admittedly, there are times when I feel that I shouldn't have to produce a phony, image altering smile every time I talk to a stranger, but really, all I'm doing by that attitude is avoiding an easy answer to my dilemma. Yes, everyone has a burden to bear because of the way we all look; different from one another. But in a culture where appearances count for so much, for too much, we notice much about others, and we imagine everything that could be wrong with ourselves. Unless somebody invents a cure for prejudice, the best we can do, for the moment, is to smile at everyone.