What a smile will do

Getting on Line 7 at the terminal on the way to the library. I sat on the sideways seats right next to the back seats. Edgar ends up sitting next to me. He was wearing a Ryan's name tag. Friendly, talkative guy. A couple Asian-looking girls put their bikes on the front of the bus and sat on the back seats. We had just started out and the bus comes to a halt. The driver calls to the back and told the girls with the bikes they needed to fix them, they are loose and may fall off. They didn't appear to understand what was going on. So Edgar and I began to explain. They still appeared somewhat perplexed by the whole thing as they still didn't understand. So Edgar gets up and says to them,  "come with me." They followed him and he goes out to their bikes and helps secure them. They were very grateful to Edgar for helping them. So off we go again.

I said "good job Edgar." He leans over to me and whispers, "had a chance to meet some really cute girls."  I asked the girls where they were from. They said, "Japan." What are you doing here... in school? "Yes," they said. Which one I asked, "Missouri State." The whole time they smiled. Seemed to enjoy someone taking an interest in them. (I was feeling like I was an Ambassador for the USA and making our visitors from Japan welcome in our country.)

 And they kept smiling the whole time... very pleasant young ladies. Every time I looked over at them they would smile at me. 

Edgar was not short of things to talk about. He was a cook at Ryan's and explained the way he made his steaks and why they were so good. I should come by Saturday night for their ribs... they are exceptional he said. By the time we got to his stop he had invited me to come by and he would cook up something very special for me.

The Japan girls pulled the chord for their stop. As they were going by me, they smiled, nodded and waved good bye to me. 

What made me think is the respect they showed. In their culture showing respect for elders, people in an authority position is very huge. The way they remained so courteous to me showed that.

Edgar became my friend in minutes and invited me for a steak at Ryan's Steak House.

Respect, being helpful, courteous and being gracious always wins out. Some see the bus culture as not that, but not always. The young Japanese students left an impression on me with their constant smiling, friendly  respectful expressions. Amazing what a smile will do. When I got off the bus I was also smiling and saying friendly things to several passengers. And you never know when someone may invite you to dinner.  

Lesson learned from the bus culture experience. If you are not getting enough smiles in life, smile more and others will smile back. When you smile first, the other person will smile, and before you know it everyone is smiling at the next person. One smile can begin spreading smiles around... it only takes a spark to get a fire burning.