Eyes that Smile

Greeting our fellow citizens with a smile has been a civic practice for quite a long time…at least since the time I could remember. Familiarity and courteousness were always expressed with a smile, fake or genuine is anyone's own problem to guess…and I'm quite sure we have figured that out as well.

In the COVID times however, we are interesting posed with a new challenge...the inability to display the smile when we need it the most. The (designer) mask that now adorn our faces, apart from masking the prospective viral largesse in the air, also successfully masks that wonderful yet hidden curve on our lips. We didn’t see this coming. The guilt at our apparent failure to express our old courtesies which we had once mastered, is affecting us no bound. We have now realized that the only visible and partially movable pieces on our faces are…lo and behold! our eyes! Interestingly now the focus as we meet and greet each other has turned right on the eyes.

Now how do we make our eyes smile...quite a challenge...isn't it? We never thought we had to learn this one too...no one warned us of this when times we good. However, by virtue of the times we live in, the ability to smile with our eyes has become non-negotiable skill...we obviously want to bestow the same courtesies on our people which we were quite good at doing. Now let us make our eyes do the talking...I mean, the smiling. So, friends please get started and get your acts together on this one. But how, is the question? It’s quite simple for those of us who are genuinely happy meeting people…the eyes should naturally light up without much effort! For the rest of us…. there must be something available “online”. Start looking up and pick up the skill.

Good luck!