The heartbreakers and smilemakers

Sometimes it’s the tiniest things in life that just crack your heart in two and bring tears to your eyes – and a smile that you simply can’t stop.

I’ve had two such experiences in the last couple of days.

On Saturday morning I trotted off to buy yet more bags of birdseed and peanuts for the ravening hordes. The place I go to is a huge family-run warehouse affair where everyone knows everyone else and long-standing customers are greeted like old friends. There’s a guy who “works” the door. You know the one; the guy who’s not the brightest, the guy who’s got the job on a sort of “charity” basis, but who’s doing his job as though his life depended on it. I bounced in, flashed him a big smile, asked how he was doing and made my way to the counter.

On the way out, I have to give my till receipt to the “door” man. I gave him another huge smile and said, “Here you go.”

He looked up at me and beamed. “You know,” he said, “You have just the most lovely smile and thank you so much for your warmth.” He said it in the way of one who knows that people don’t usually notice him and see having to hand him their receipt as a chore.

“It costs me nothing,” I said, “and it’s such a cold day – it must be jolly chilly standing here in the doorway.”

“Yes,” he said, “It is. Thank you. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.”

“And I hope you have a wonderful weekend too,” I said.

And he beamed at me some more and my heart cracked and I thought, it’s so simple to brighten someone’s day. And it feels so good when you do so, so good that your soul grows wings, soars and sings.






And then there was the boy at the traffic light.

There are loads of street people and beggars in Cape Town (across South Africa, in fact) and every traffic light and intersection is a “picking spot”. One smart guy has recently been standing at the freeway intersection closest to where I live with a cardboard placard saying, “Kids gone to Hollywood, wife stolen Porsche, nothing left, please help. Have a nice day.” Another has been selling Arum lilies which after a wet winter, are blooming everywhere. Someone else is trying to sell small animals made from scrap metal. These people stand there next to the newspaper sellers and go from car to car. After a while you learn not to see them and you learn not to look in their eyes. There is, after all, just so much pain in the world that each of us can cope with and when it’s in your face everyday, you stop looking, you stop seeing, and I suppose some even stop feeling. But not everyone does.

Today, as I waited for the lights to change I saw a “newcomer” working the line of cars - a young boy of about sixteen. He was partially disabled, walking with a limp. He begged from car to car until he reached the small silver Hyundai in front of me. The woman in the car gave him a plastic bag, presumably with food in it. His face lit up. He couldn’t believe his luck. He smiled, he bowed, he thanked her and his smile brightened his face so that it shone - and I swear all the angels smiled with him. I was on my way back from gym and had nothing in car with me, not even a couple of rand. So when he reached me all I could offer him was a smile. God, he broke my heart with the smile he gave me in return. He waved, he bobbed and he grinned the biggest, brightest grin I’ve ever seen. His eyes sparkled and he blessed me far more than I could ever have blessed him.

You know that moment when your heart breaks and your eyes fill with tears and you can’t stop smiling. That was one of them.