Smile!

Okay, it’s rant time. I know I should be posting about writing here, but I couldn’t think of a better place for it.

Maybe this is just one of those rumors going around on the internet, but I heard a man is actually walking up to women and telling to smile, or just that they’d be prettier if they smiled.

I assume this is what he looks like, except replace the yellow circle with a horse's butt.

What.

Sounds like a good way to get punched in the throat to me. It’s quite an insult to women in general, as if by smiling some magic unicorn will appear dancing on a rainbow to poop puppies and pee starlight. And it’ll make them pretty? Puh-lease. You don’t need to smile to look pretty the same way you don’t need to frown to look pretty.

Then there’s the whole invalidation of being told that you’ll only be acceptable if you smile. I don’t know if I have a funny face or something, but I’ve had a few people yell at me for my facial expression even though I have no idea what I did to deserve it. The clearest example is when I was in sixth grade and a teacher flipped out at me for giving her a “dirty look” when I glanced at her in passing. Her reaction was so over the top (not to mention humiliating) that I’m still extremely uncomfortable allowing my face to emote. Which in turn means I get called “grumpy” and “mad” even when I’m not.

Yeah, it’s kind of a sensitive subject for me. I’ve been judged for how I appear in a minor, yet not insignificant, way. So I don’t like hearing someone tell me if I look a certain way, I’ll somehow be better. I like the way I am even if I look "grumpy".

Thoughts? Am I taking this too seriously (well, obviously)? What would you do if someone came up to you and told you to smile?

Expressive

Not writing or word nerdery or rants about word usage. Just something I find interesting : )

Human faces show emotion to varying degrees. Me? Everything is written all over my face. But there are tons of people out there who wouldn’t twitch if someone ripped out their arm hair with duct tape.

Honestly, I’d like to be the stoic type, but that’s never going to happen. Every little thought that runs through my head appears somewhere on my face. This has time and again gotten me in trouble. I was in sixth grade when I was walking to the cafeteria with my friend. Now, this was before class started and no one was supposed to be in the hallway, but we and a few others stopped there because, well, it was what we weren’t supposed to do. : )

Of course we were caught. Everyone took the scolding and moved on. But the teacher called me back.

See, I made a “face.” I didn’t do it on purpose and I didn’t do it at her—I was basically thinking, “Oh, crud, I knew this would happen and it did.” But she took it as a personal affront that my eyebrows were lowered in dismay and confusion at the vitriol she spewed at us.

Stuff like that is why I wish I could keep a neutral expression on my face. Well, at least you’d know if I ever lied. But wait: there’s more!

Blind people, people who have been so since birth, smile.

Think about it. How do they know? Yes, they can feel, but blind babies smile. They aren’t just mimicking what they feel on others' faces.

Expressions are within our brains. Isn’t that neat? Perhaps another interesting thing to note: some babies (not blind), don’t smile. This is usually the result of stress and anxiety from a lack of attention, or even a mental issue. So smiles--and other expressions--are a direct result of the brain's hardwiring, not learning. I wonder, though, if it's limited to homo sapians.

Sometimes, I even think animals can smile. When I see a happy dog, with its tongue lolling out and mouth open, I can swear I see the corners of their mouth go up. Cats too, although they’re more subtle. Their corners go up, but the real smile is when they close their eyes.

Of course, I could just be crazy about that last paragraph. : o