Happy World Smile Day! :-)
by Angie Brennan
Did you know that today, October 6, 2006 is World Smile Day? Held each
year on the first Friday in October, it was first celebrated seven years ago in
Worcester, Massachusetts.
And just what, you may ask, does Worcester have to smile about? (Other than
hearing non-natives attempt to pronounce the word “Worcester”).
The smiley-face, that’s what. Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from
Worcester, came up with the symbol in 1963 as part of a client’s morale-
boosting campaign. The client, State Mutual Life Assurance Company,
handed out smiley-face buttons to its employees, encouraging them to be
friendly and courteous to customers while they were denying their claims.
I don’t know about this encouraging people to smile stuff. Personally, I think
we could all do with a little less of it. Just take a look at those numerous ads
featuring groups of people overcome with acute fits of hilarity over, say, a
new cell phone, a pair of jeans, or a honey-glazed ham. The unspoken
assumption here is that if you buy the advertised product, you, too, can attain
youth, joyful camaraderie, and teeth with that bright just-Photoshopped look.
And the problem isn’t just in print--strangers smiling at me in person make me
nervous, too. Why are they smiling? Should I smile back? Is this someone
from my neighborhood with whom I’m on waving terms but have never
actually seen up close? Maybe it’s somebody on a cell phone call using one of
those tiny ear phones I can’t see, which I’ll realize after I return the smile and
hear him mutter, “Hang on--some weirdo is grinning at me.” Or perhaps it’s
someone smirking at the fact that I’m walking around the grocery store having
forgotten to remove my name tag that says, “Hi! I’m Trevor’s Mom!” (An
unlikely scenario, granted, since I don’t have a child named Trevor).
But back to Worcester…the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation sponsors a
contest in conjunction with the World Smile Day festivities. This year’s
theme: “Keep Your Eyes on the Pies.” No, it won’t involve cows, but it may
make the contestants just as sick; it’s a pie-eating contest. Now I enjoy a good
apple pie as much as the next person, but it seems to me that frantically
shoveling in mouthful after mouthful of any dessert wouldn’t tend to induce a
smile. It would tend to induce indigestion.
I just hope that when somebody collapses from hyperglycemia in the middle
of the contest, the city’s insurance will cover it. I wouldn’t count on it,
though, especially if they use State Mutual Life.
At least they’ll get their denial with a smile.
©2006
