PODCAST -- Belief in a smile

You can now upload podcasts to this site. For more info see "podcasts" under READ. This audio essay, patterned after the National Public Radio feature "This I believe ..." was done by Erica Russom a freshman at Milton High School. To read along, click "read more" and then click the arrow button above.

It’s true… life is short. There’s no avoiding it. But we shouldn’t count our years in days, but in smiles. We should all find some way to laugh every day because it truly is the best medicine. It might not be able to heal cuts or bruises, but it can heal something else that no pharmacy can, the healing of the heart. And if you think about it, isn’t that really everything you need to make you feel better? We all need happiness that will always be there. Because true happiness won’t burn away in a fire or eventually turn to dust.

I try to go through life with a smile stamped on my face, and keep a giggle or two in my heart. I think we all can relate to having hard times. We’ve all gone through something that seemed to have no end, a black room without a light switch. I went through one of those times and I’m only 13. I thought that simply running would clear up all my problems and that I would find a way to run from everything. I was tired and just felt like giving up on life, if that was possible. Maybe, I thought, I could just stay in my house forever and never leave, never have to worry again about what other people thought of me. Maybe I could just pretend not to care anymore.

It didn’t work though. I did care. I cared about what happened to me, who I was, and what I believed in. My mom and dad told me to just keep smiling, and everything would work out okay. So I did. After that advice, I started walking a little taller, smiling a little wider, and laughing a little harder. And, you know what? It worked. It worked better then I thought it would. It didn’t cover up my problem; it helped me overcome it. It didn’t show me the door to get out of the blackness; it gave me a light so I could find it on my own. And to me that’s better than running from my problems because nothing in this world comes easy. I believe that if you have a smile to help cushion your fall it makes things a lot easier.

I know that I will go threw a hard time again, but I hope that no matter what, I will always keep this idea close to my heart. I will keep this close to my heart because happiness is all I want, I think this is all anyone will ever need. I really think that if we find a way to be happy, then happy we shall become… this I believe.