It's been one long journey, a journey that every passing day I was enjoying the experience. I am glad I decided to go through with going to Taraba State. Yes, because at some point, I didn't want to go anymore. Fate wanted me to go, and although, the mere thought of the stress freaked me out, I mustered up the courage and did it.
I made lots of friends on the way and back. And each person I met made me realize there are good humans everywhere in the world. Irrespective of the language barrier, a mere smile will warm the heart of anyone you meet on the way to anywhere. It's one of the things I learned on this one.
Making the next human feel comfortable around you, and blessing their day with polite smiles, and chit-chats here and there will go a long way to earn you humanly credit. My contact list was updated because I had to exchange phone numbers with quite a good number of people. They just naturally warmed up to me at the first meeting. And I did my best to make sure I didn't give off a bad impression or energy.
For instance, there was this checking point on the road of Benue State. Everyone in the vehicle got down and walked past the various checkpoints until we got to this one. While we were walking, I had my two hands in my pocket and walked as though I have no care in the world.
Suddenly, one of the soldiers called me, initially, I didn't think I was the one he was calling because there was someone walking in front of me. I asked him, signaling with my hands if he was referring to me and he said, "Yes, you", angrily. I was beginning to wonder if I did anything wrong.
First, I checked the shorts I wore to see if I was in camouflage. You know soldiers do not like seeing civilians in any of their army colors. The color of the shot I wore wasn't camouflaged but the designs almost looked like the ones on their uniforms. I began to panic.
Secondly, I thought maybe it was because I had my hands in my pocket on a checking point. I almost fainted at the thought of this one. This is because I have this friend, Andrew, whom I met in Abuja, who always asked me to get my hands off my pocket. I usually wave him off and continue putting them. At this moment, I thought, "oh no, I should have been listening to Andrew".
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I walked up to him and greeted him with a smile. He was shouting at me, and raising the tempo of his voice to instill fear. The moment I smiled, his defense dropped, and he smiled back at me. Then he started speaking to me in low tones, interacting, and asking me questions about home, parents, school, and anything he could think of. In the end, he got my contact, and I finally had the number of a soldier on my phone... Lol.
Afterward, he walked me down to our vehicle and apologized to the rest of the passengers for keeping them waiting. I heaved a sigh of relief. The last thing I wanted to do was get stopped on the way and left behind. Therefore, I was glad when all I needed to move past everything was a smile and a jovial attitude.
A smile brightens another person's day. It makes people feel connected instead of being outrightly ignored by other persons. I remember a story I read somewhere when a young man often smiled at this particular old woman in his neighborhood. Everyone usually ignores her, but every time he sees her, he smiles up at her. Although she never smiled back, he kept smiling at her. One day, he had the opportunity to talk to her, and she opened up to him about her circumstances, and the sorrows she lived through every day. It was a wonderful thing to know that the young man's smile often made her happy and for those short moments, she always forget her worries.
Smile up at someone today.