A few evenings ago, I was watching a production of the opera Macbeth streamed by the Met during these pandemic times.
Lady Macbeth isn’t the type of person I’d want to invite to my home, advocate of murder that she is and loaded with ambition to make her husband king. And it seems to suit her just fine to kill any threats to his reign.
The woman performing the role was not only a superb singer but also an outstanding actress. An examination of her facial expressions was enough to determine what she was like: ambitious, immoral, disgusted with a husband who had to be goaded into action.
Then, in one scene where the king indicated a willingness to follow her advice, she broke into a smile.
It transformed her. For just an instant, mind you, it would have been possible to be fooled about her nature. It got me thinking about smiles.
What is it about them that elicits good feelings, and upside-down smiles that suggest the opposite? After all, aren’t both smiles and frowns the result of commands sent to muscles in the face? I’m no physician, but are they the same muscles executing different commands or distinct sets of muscles? It seems the amount of work to produce them is about the same. Try it and see!
Well, for whatever reason, I’d rather see a smile than a frown, although I can’t help wondering, if we’d interpreted expressions differently from millennia past, would the frown now be the symbol of joy.
But, no matter, it’s the curving up that pleases us.
But not all the time.
There’s the false smile of the snake-oil salesman who wants to extract your money. We’ve all run into that smile and hopefully have learned to interpret it for what it’s worth.
Then there’s the smile that appears after a joke. Sometimes a genuine one that shows you thought it actually was funny. All too often, though, it’s the forced one because the joke is awful. Still, in this latter case you produce a smile rather than a frown because you’re kind and that’s what the jokester wants to see. I hope, though, a frown and appropriate words are there if the joke in any way mocks a class of people.
As I considered this subject, I began to wonder if politicians ever smiled. Well, some do. Vice-President Harris does—a lot. So does Senator Klobuchar. I’m sure there are others. But I don’t think there are many. I’m trying to think of any Republican examples. Certainly our past president never did as far as I could see. Maybe, if they did, people would think better of them.
The best smiles are different from the above. They’re the ones that indicate deep joy and contentment.
The smile that comes when you’re happy with your life.
The smile that occurs when one of your children has accomplished some goal.
The smile that beams across a child’s face for a host of reasons.
The smile you see on your partner’s face that can light up the room and relieve your anxiety.
Sometimes it’s hard to smile. When you’re in physical pain. When you’re in emotional pain.
But in most of those moments in our lives when the day-to-day living borders on the humdrum, perhaps we should attempt to increase the time we devote to smiling.
For our own good and the good of those around us.
Lady Macbeth isn’t the type of person I’d want to invite to my home, advocate of murder that she is and loaded with ambition to make her husband king. And it seems to suit her just fine to kill any threats to his reign.
The woman performing the role was not only a superb singer but also an outstanding actress. An examination of her facial expressions was enough to determine what she was like: ambitious, immoral, disgusted with a husband who had to be goaded into action.
Then, in one scene where the king indicated a willingness to follow her advice, she broke into a smile.
It transformed her. For just an instant, mind you, it would have been possible to be fooled about her nature. It got me thinking about smiles.
What is it about them that elicits good feelings, and upside-down smiles that suggest the opposite? After all, aren’t both smiles and frowns the result of commands sent to muscles in the face? I’m no physician, but are they the same muscles executing different commands or distinct sets of muscles? It seems the amount of work to produce them is about the same. Try it and see!
Well, for whatever reason, I’d rather see a smile than a frown, although I can’t help wondering, if we’d interpreted expressions differently from millennia past, would the frown now be the symbol of joy.
But, no matter, it’s the curving up that pleases us.
But not all the time.
There’s the false smile of the snake-oil salesman who wants to extract your money. We’ve all run into that smile and hopefully have learned to interpret it for what it’s worth.
Then there’s the smile that appears after a joke. Sometimes a genuine one that shows you thought it actually was funny. All too often, though, it’s the forced one because the joke is awful. Still, in this latter case you produce a smile rather than a frown because you’re kind and that’s what the jokester wants to see. I hope, though, a frown and appropriate words are there if the joke in any way mocks a class of people.
As I considered this subject, I began to wonder if politicians ever smiled. Well, some do. Vice-President Harris does—a lot. So does Senator Klobuchar. I’m sure there are others. But I don’t think there are many. I’m trying to think of any Republican examples. Certainly our past president never did as far as I could see. Maybe, if they did, people would think better of them.
The best smiles are different from the above. They’re the ones that indicate deep joy and contentment.
The smile that comes when you’re happy with your life.
The smile that occurs when one of your children has accomplished some goal.
The smile that beams across a child’s face for a host of reasons.
The smile you see on your partner’s face that can light up the room and relieve your anxiety.
Sometimes it’s hard to smile. When you’re in physical pain. When you’re in emotional pain.
But in most of those moments in our lives when the day-to-day living borders on the humdrum, perhaps we should attempt to increase the time we devote to smiling.
For our own good and the good of those around us.
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