We are told of a smile’s power.  Chinese say that a man who doesn’t know how to smile shouldn’t open a shop. But a mechanical smile will not produce all the wonders a genuine smile can. It may even produce the counter effect. The same analogy can be applied to gratitude. Saying “thank you” does not mean that you are truly grateful and people can feel it when it is forced and phony. Surely, they will feel it when it sounds “You are boring me, please give me space!”

Professionally, such a courtesy is rather unwelcoming and it will kill a business. So how do you make your smile and gratitude natural and genuine? If you are sitting on a chair reading this article, begin by considering a chair. Yes, a chair, I am not wrong. Think of the person who fetched the wood that made it.

Think of the carpenter’s time, energy and love. Think of the man who made the nails and think of the sweat of the man who delivered it, so that you might sit comfortably.  If you take time to think about all this labor, you will value their work and you will be grateful to each of them. And a chair will become a new object. You will respect it as an incarnation of many people’s effort; never again will you consider it as an inert, sometimes valueless object. And you will sit on it with a new attitude.

If you adopt such an attitude in every sale, in every encounter, in every speech, your whole life will change. And you will know what “inner smile” and “genuine gratitude” mean.You will find it easy, not hard to do. All you need to do is just attempt it for a day and see how everything will become marvelous. This is the attitude that young people beset by vandalism must learn.

This is the lesson that older people beset by mental vandalism must learn. Then gratitude will become a habit. And life will be better.

By Oliver Biraro. TSM Youth- Editor.