Mondays come too fast and sometime, we need something light to keep us going through the proverbial blues. Everyone is rushing! Traffic is crazy! This deep urge to push the vehicle from within overtakes you, because the clock on your phone reads 7.30. “Will I be late to work again?” you ask yourself. Everyone is in a hurry, to work or school.
An empty matatu has blocked a Double-M bus full of anxious Nairobians going to work. It’s face to face with the bus on the Eastleigh shortcut that all matatus plying route number 23 have recently discovered. Something that was genius when it was first discovered, but now is proving otherwise. Our driver yells to the empty matatu driver, “Why don’t you park your empty vehicle and let people go to work in peace?”
A few meters past that scene, my curious eyes rest on pedestrians trying frantically to weave their way between matatus that have taken over their neighborhood. There’s a boy four or five years old. He is enjoying a ride on a woman’s back. The boy in school uniform is going to school like a king.
Suddenly a motorcycle screeches to a halt just at the lady’s foot. Oh! That was close. The rider is probably mad at the woman for walking “aimlessly” on a busy road. He creases his face in readiness for the tongue lashing that he’s just about to give.
The woman looks harassed as she tries to dodge the motorbike. The boy in on the unfortunate woman’s back lets out a wide smile which softens even the tough rider’s facial expression. Suddenly there is a smile on the once creased face. It was a reflex action that is contagious. I couldn’t help but join in the smiling.
This is the power of a smile; it softens the toughest of hearts. Two studies from 2002 and 2011 at Uppsala University in Sweden confirmed that other people’s smiles actually suppress the control we usually have over our facial muscles, compelling us to smile. They also showed that it’s very difficult to frown when looking at someone who smiles.
Ever wondered why being around children who smile frequently makes you smile more often? We now have an idea.