Smile!

"Everytime you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing."
-Mother Teresa


I have found that this is the best start of a relationship in our neighborhood. It is a nice start to any relationship really, but if you can't make someone smile chances are the relationship won't go very far. In Enderly Park, the key to the kids is making them laugh; if you can't make a fool out of yourself and laugh with them you don't have a shot. The summer is halfway over, and I am just starting to feel like all the kids are really opening up. This is making me sad and I am wishing that my time here would be a little bit longer, or that the kids were closer. But..everyone always leaves.


People here say this is where I stay; not this is where I live. It's something I've heard repeatedly since the beginning of our summer. Even if I ask where do you live they respond with I stay over here or over there. This neighborhood is very transient and always in transition. People come and go and may only stay for a few months to a year at most. Several of the kids have already asked if I am coming back next summer and I find it hard to tell them no because I am starting to see all the other let-downs they have faced. Instead of saying no, I keep saying that it depends on whether I get a job or not. One of the kids we see pretty much everyday asked me if I had to go back at the end of the summer. When I told her I did, she answered with "I hate that everyone always leaves." 


Despite all the hardships (as we middle class white folk like to say) these kids have had to overcome they are some of the happiest children I have ever met. They appreciate everything they have and when they complain it's usually about how hot it is outside. It really makes me wonder how so many people can complain about the simplest things and take so much for granted. It is frustrating! Everyone is guilty of this..including me. It has taken this summer to only just begin to realize how my "stuff" shouldn't really mean that much to me and how important relationships in this world really are. 


Which brings me back to my original intent..smile at everyone you see. It will make you feel better. It will make them feel better. And you will make the world better each time you do it.