Smile

(Mujtaba, a child survivor during Bam Earthquake, 2003)

IT COST NOTHING and is worth a lot.

It makes the receiver richer without making the giver poorer.

It is as brief as lightning but often lingers in memory forever.

Nobody is so rich that he can do without it, and nobody so poor that he cannot afford it.

It makes for a happy home, creates goodwill in business and is the sign of friendship.

It gives strength to the tired, uplifts the disheartened, cheers up the sad and is the best remedy against annoyance.

It cannot be bought or begged, borrowed or stolen, because it is so valuable only given as a present.

And nobody needs it more desperately that someone who has none left for others.

What is it? A smile.

(Tages-Anzeiger-Magazin, Zurich)