Smiling is infectious,
you catch it like the flu.
When someone smiled at me today,
I started smiling too.
I passed around the corner
and someone saw my grin.
When he smiled I realized
I’d passed it on to him.
I thought about that smile
then realized its worth,
A single smile, just like mine
could travel round the earth.
So, if you feel a smile begin,
don’t leave it undetected.
Let’s start an epidemic quick,
and get the world infected.
Author unknown
When YOU encounter someone, are YOU the first one to give a smile or are you waiting for them to light up with a smile for you?
GOD IS CONSTANTLY IN THE BUSINESS OF CHANGING LIVES!
My Commentary:
This playful poem carries a serious truth.
We often think of influence as something large – – speeches, policies, grand gestures. But here we are reminded that something as small as a smile can ripple outward in ways we never see. A smile requires no budget. It needs no platform. It travels without permission. And yet it can alter the atmosphere of a room in seconds.
Twenty years ago I was traveling by myself in Paris and throughout France. I probably smiled at hundreds of people walking towards me. Only one or two elderly people smiled back at me. As I was flying home, I said to myself, “I hope and pray America never becomes like that.”
The comparison to the flu is clever. Illness spreads invisibly from one person to another. So does joy. One smile softens a stranger. That stranger brightens a cashier. The cashier lightens a weary customer. What began as a private expression becomes a public blessing.
In a world saturated with headlines that spread fear, anger, and division, this poem suggests another kind of epidemic — kindness. A smile says, “I see you.” It says, “You matter.” It says, even without words, “We are not enemies.”
The line “I thought about that smile then realized its worth” invites reflection. We underestimate small goodness. We dismiss it as trivial. But history is not shaped only by dramatic moments. It is shaped by daily choices of tone, attitude, and presence.
A single smile cannot solve every problem. But it can interrupt despair. It can lower defenses. It can open a conversation. It can remind someone that light still exists.
“Let’s start an epidemic quick.” That is not naïve optimism. It is moral courage. It is choosing to spread hope rather than hostility.
The world is already contagious with many things.
Why not let joy be one of them?
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Have a Blessed Saturday!
