When someone smiles at you, what's your initial reaction? Does it make you happy? Well, with me, just a smile can turn walking on glass into walking on air. In, "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings", we see a man who has been through a lot. When we're upset, we need someone to listen, or even just acknowledge our existence. We want that from others, so why wouldn't we do it for someone else? The age old saying, "treat others how you want to be treated" is a complete understatement in this situation. How would you feel if you found out that one smile to a complete stranger could save their life?
In the story, an angel lands on earth and he’s all beaten and tattered. Meanwhile, Pelayo and Elisenda figure out a way to benefit from this angel. The neighbor tells them to club him to death. Here, the couple has some sort of sympathy because they cannot do that to the poor man. Instead, they lock him up in a chicken coop and people treat him as if he is an animal at the zoo. Think of this as a stray dog that shows up in your yard. Your initial reaction is to shoo it away. But how many of you would actually take it in, feed, and care for it? If you ask me, there aren’t many of you who would. Wouldn’t you want someone to feed and care for you? Small acts of kindness like that can produce miracles.
You may say, "There’s no way a smile can save a life." well, now it’s time for me to prove you wrong. Mr. John Hevin Kines, a San Francisco man who grew up with depression disorders, decided one morning he was going to kill himself. He walked onto the golden gate bridge preparing to jump. He wrote in his suicide letter that if someone smiles at him before he jumps, then he wouldn't go through with it. He would not kill himself. Well, he stood on this bridge for almost 45 minutes, balling his eyes out, waiting to see if anyone would smile at him, or ask him what was wrong. A German woman approached him, and asked if he'd take her picture. He took it, and told her to have a great day. After that, he decided that nobody cares about him, and he hurled himself over the side of the bridge. Somehow, he survived. He says that the reason he survived was because of God's grace. But think about this. One act of kindness could've prevented all that from happening. One person, one conversation, one smile. In the story, don't you think acts of kindness could've helped this angel, instead of all the beatings and hard times? Wouldn’t a pat on the back be better than a hit with a branding iron? Wouldn’t you want someone’s help if you were sad and lonely?
If you helped someone, you'd more than likely feel pretty good about yourself. I cannot stress enough how treating others how you want to be treated can help a situation. John Kines was a very lucky man to have survived that jump off the Golden Gate Bridge. Just like the angel in the story that was very lucky to have gained his strength back and be able to fly away. They each received no help from anyone other than God himself. Both of these instances could've been simply avoided if someone would've decided to help rather than to hurt. Even the little things can help us learn how to save a life.
