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| Sunday, 23 October 2005 |
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| News Business Features Editorial
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Smile an everlasting smile
A smile is - when the corners of your mouth go up, as opposed to crying, the corners of your mouth droops down. A smile is much more attractive if clean white, sparkling even teeth are visible. Caring mothers could be heard during early mornings and late evenings, requesting their tiny tots to brush their teeth. At times there are loud commotions heard, when teenage children are confronted by their mothers with toothbrushes. In towns and even villages, most people use toothpaste. But those who cannot afford toothpaste or do not like toothpaste, use charcoal, salt or tooth powder. In the villages in the past, people used a twig from a particular tree (Bomu) to brush their teeth. I can still remember during the harvest season in my village, when we go near the paddy fields, my uncle would break sticks about six inches in length from the Bomutree and give my brother and me to brush our teeth. He too would take a stick and show us the way to use it. All this meticulous looking after of teeth helps us reach the target of a beautiful smile. Babies tend to smile in their sleep and fond mothers keep on looking at a sleeping baby's face, just to catch a glimpse of the baby's toothless smile in the meantime forgetting household chores. A beauty queen such as a Miss World, will never win her title, even if she has a gorgeous complexion, a stunning figure, and the highest IQ, if she cannot present a dazzling smile. People put forward a rather timid smile when they meet their new boss or when they present themselves at an interview. It is impossible to put on a happy smile at events of this nature, because the interviewee knows that he/she is being sized up by one particular person of a group of people and are under their swating! Normally brides are expected to smile shyly on their wedding day, but the brides of the present era tend to have very confident smiles rather than shy smiles! But this is to be expected, as the girls themselves have to go to such length to make their wedding a number one event, (from booking the hall up to beautician and dress-maker etc.) that by the day of the wedding, even the most timid girl would become quite self-assured. There are some people who have a toothy grin plastered on their faces at all times. It must be a very difficult task, as there must be so many different kinds of thoughts going on in their heads, though the toothy grin is flashed at everyone who would take a look at them. People can be misled by an everlasting toothy grin or toothpaste smile, as they may think that a person who has such a fine grin can do no fault. In the newspapers we could see pictures of some politicians always showing their thirty-two teeth, at happy events as well as serious events. We should be careful of persons who flash their grin at all events, because they may not be able to comprehend and differentiate seriousness from happiness or may be they are able to grin even while concocting somekind of eerie plan. When a person is confronted with humour he would put an amused smile. Not all people smile happily - there are some who would smile at another in a condemning way. This is the mocking or sardonic smile, and it can make the other person get very hurt. Smirks are conceited or affected smiles. When a person is very overtly satisfied with himself, he may smirk. But if he is not doing any harm to anybody by his smirk, let him enjoy his smirk! A person has to be lucky to be endowed with a beautiful smile, as the whole face will light up, and the other features on his face too will naturally blend with the smile. An attractive smile can take a person a long way, like landing with a good job or even marrying a prince or a princess! But among all these smiling people there are some who cannot smile at all. A thing I have noticed is that this unsmiling lot is on the increase in recent times. It is very difficult to find out whether at least they smile with their own family members, as we do not get the chance of seeing them among their family members. It would be nice if there was a way to make them smile, as then we too would not feel uneasy when we smile at them. It may be the pressure of studies from the time they were babes, or pressure at their workplaces that make them keep a straight face or rather a straight mouth. But we should always smile at another even if we know the other person may not smile. Extensions of the smile, are the giggle and laughter. Young girls tend to giggle more than boys. Boys tend to have loud cackling laughter. It's always best to be able to smile as it could make your inner-self happy. There is a song too which tells us that a person cannot be judged by his smile, so a smile is worthwhile if the person who smiles does it with kindness and sincerity. But it is always best to smile, smile and smile as it will make your inner self glow, and it may be the secret to remain looking young even if you age in years! by Prasadini Nugawala |
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