Happiness has your face
It’s sunny. Sunrays penetrate the veil of clouds, but their power is not enough for these cold days. It’s one of those November days we dislike but seek the comfort provided by the warmth of our clothes.
However, life takes its course at its own rhythm. The world moves, it sees its daily paths. I sit at the station and wait for the bus. I look at the world around me. I like to see people’s faces and guess what they are thinking and feeling behind their expressions. To guess what makes them sad or brings a smile to their face, when they know or think that no one sees them. At times when everyone is himself, without any of the masks we impose on ourselves to respect society’s rules. In fact, I have always been fascinated by how many destinies intertwine in any station… To see the man in so many faces, sizes, bodies and facial expressions. Such a diverse yet beautiful world.
The world comes and goes as they know, think, want… They get on and off the buses, following the itinerary, they know or learn after this trip. Some come, some go just like we do in life.
Reading or at least pretending to guess what is hidden behind those faces, I think that we only leave this life with what we carry in our souls.
When I look at people’s faces, I notice they are often sad and resigned. They change when they show the mask of smiling and joy at greeting an acquaintance. The mask becomes cold and conceited when the person greeted is seen as inferior. The mask represents submission and the desire to bend to the will of the other when he is seen as superior. After this exchange of warm greetings between the masks, each takes off his mask and returns to his true face and thoughts. Everything seems sad, a lack of forgiveness, and lies, hypocrisy and … a lack of happiness.
Can you be happy when you see in yourself only a concept of comparison with another? When are you afraid to show your true colours? When are you afraid and ashamed to show yourself? Happiness cannot be hidden, it has its own face. It is full of light and colour. You feel it from a distance, you do not just see it.
The same thing happened to me on that cold November morning. Although I didn’t see a face, I sensed his happiness from afar. He was crossing the road to the bus stop. He was not a prince and was not elegantly dressed. On the contrary, if you were to compare the people at the station with him, you would say that he was more undressed than dressed. Clean but simple, or in other words, poor. Jeans and a pair of boots that had seen better days were complemented by a sweatshirt that came up to the neck. All this contrasted sharply with the thick and elegant clothes of the people at the station. But, the biggest contrast was not in the quality and warmth of the clothes. Not even between the superior looks that the people around him gave him and which he didn’t even notice. The contrast was between their masked faces and the happiness that radiated from this man’s face. A Happiness that seemed to have no limits and could not be touched by malice and contempt.
It is the happiness had and displayed only by those who live simply, contented with what they have, without entering into competition with anyone for anything. Not caring how others perceive him…
After all, happiness doesn’t happen where you live to please others. It makes its way where you live following the path you feel, where you have the courage to be who you are. It comes with light and colour on your face because your happiness has your face!
