That Girl’s Blog: Make Someone Smile Today

What Will You Do To Make Someone Smile Today?

When was the last time you started your day by deciding to make someone else smile? With so much negativity, violence, anger and frustration filling up our news feeds, I decided to pose this question to my friends over the weekend. What will you do to make someone smile today?

I was pleasantly surprised by the responses. I half expected a page filled with sarcasm and PG-13 rated posts. Instead, I had a page filled with very kind hearted gestures that my friends had already made or were planning to make. Thoughtful gestures included everything from taking a dog to visit a sick friend to making coffee for a spouse to running errands for neighbors. Of course there were a few posts about farts – but who doesn’t at least smirk at the awkward immaturity of our friend’s flatulence?

There was one post, however, above all others that really caught my attention: “Had a block party for people I did not even know at Fresh Holes Rd”.

“Seriously?” I asked my friend Dan.

“Yes! We did an outreach today there. We got a gaming truck and a bounce house, face painting, and made hot dogs for whoever came over.”

I had to pause for a moment. Are you familiar with Fresh Holes Road in Hyannis? It is a neighborhood that has developed a troubled reputation. That said there are still families there; people, neighbors.

I asked Dan about the event this morning. He said his church made an appearance in the neighborhood about a year ago. Since then, they hadn’t heard of any major problems in the area until this past week. So they decided to throw a block party. They didn’t know if anyone would show up, or even care. Apparently, they did. Dan showed me pictures of smiling faces and families talking and eating and playing.

In a time when we are rushing around wrapped up in our daily lives and only find out the latest events in our communities by reading Facebook and Twitter, a group of people took the time to plan a party for strangers. Actually, they probably aren’t strangers any more. This is how you build a community. For all the smiles on all the faces in the pictures he was showing me, Dan’s smile was the biggest by far.

I know throwing a block party might be setting the bar a little high, but I have to ask you: What will YOU do to make someone smile today?