Today I was walking home from class and I had a moment where I felt all my faith in the world had been renewed. There was this person walking towards me with a huge grin on their face. I mean, they were smiling, AT me. Trust me, I did the glance from side to side to see if there was anyone else at whom this wide toothy grin could be aimed at, and no one else was there. I had no idea who this person was or why they decided to share their smile, but I thought to myself- how great.
Since I've been at UVA, I've always felt that there is specific "eye-contact" protocol that must be followed when coming upon someone walking your way. You have 2 options: 1) Avoid eye contact as much as humanly possible, but if a glance is necessary- try to time it so that you and the other person don't look at the same time OR 2) Look them square in the eye to intimdate them from the start so they feel the need to look away, which then leaves you free to look wherever you want, while the other person's view is limited to the sidewalk.
So anyway, back to Smilie. Just as I'm starting to feel that there are genuinely nice people still out there, the person slides a flyer into my hand as they passed me. Sly. Here I was thinking someone was smiling at me, and they were really just trying to lure me in so they could hand me a sheet with their stance on abortion. In hindsight this situation probably would not have even resulted if my initial stare had been more intimidating... time to brush up on my skills.
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