The hope of a sorrowing world

One day I went bungee jumping but could not take the plunge because of my record-breaking fear of heights. One of the girls we found there smiled beautifully and told me I would miss the adventure of my life if I didn't jump. The next thing I knew I was going down in what true to her word turned out to be the wildest adventure of my life.

the smile is the hope of a sorrowing world

I was reminded of this experience while strolling on the streets of Kampala recently. I saw a boda-boda motorcycle with words on its rear: "Your smile gives me hope." I thought about it, and decided that when things are bad to the extent that your country is named the world's eleventh saddest place to live in, only a lovely smile can assuage us.

As I walked on, a street boy with dry lines of tears upon his face extended his bony hand towards me. I placed a shs1,000 note in his palm. Sadness and hunger vanished from his face as it creased into a beautiful smile; a smile I'll never forget. That little boy was possibly conceived through reckless hanky-panky between man and woman who wouldn't provide for him, and so he found a home on the streets.

Similarly, many are languishing in poverty, others sick and dying in drugless hospitals while their leaders are building mansions. Things keep on happening; the smell of anguish is petrifying, and the incoherent noise of foxes is everywhere. More people are stuck in what John Bunyan called the "slough of despond" and the flame of ambition has been snuffed out of their lives. They are only holding on to the breath of life with the hope that someday God will smile upon them, and the fetters will be shattered.

So liberating is the smile that it empowers the giver and receiver alike. For three months after the nasty accident, my cousin Egan lay comatose on the hospital bed. One afternoon after we had knelt by his bedside and prayed, he stirred and opened his eyes. They lingered on us a while and his lips slowly broke into a wan smile that brought tears of joy to our eyes.

The power of the smile to assuage a sorrowful world cannot be underestimated. As one writer put it, "Today, give a stranger one of your smiles. It might be the only sunshine he sees all day."