“A smile is a curve that sets everything straight”. October 2nd is the day that is celebrated as the International Smile day along with Gandhi Jayanthi in India. Yes, there are many such days that we can come across every month in a year, but let this day be your special day, a day just meant to smile and spread happiness and love all around. A smile costs nothing, but it gives a world of happiness to the people around you, may be even a stranger or a friend. Add a smile to everything you wear and that creates wonders to deal with any situation in your life.
International World Smile Day is celebrated on the first Friday in the month of October every year to commemorate Harvey Ball, a commercial artist from Worcester, Massachusetts who created the first smiley face in the year 1963. The image later became the most recognizable symbol of goodwill on the planet. Ball came up with the smiley, with a thought and hope in his mind that “everyone should devote at least one day in a year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world.”
World’s first smile day was held in the year 1999 and has been held annually since then. After Ball’s death in 2001, “Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation” was created in his memory. The foundation’s slogan is “improving this world, one smile at a time”. The foundation continues as the official sponsor of World Smile Day each year. Its message is “Do an act of kindness. Help one person smile”.
There are a set of activities that are being carried put by the Education World every year on this day to teach students about the benefits of smiling and how important it is to make others smile as well.
- Kid president in his video gives viewers a list of 20 things that they should say more often in their daily routine while communicating with others such as “thank you,”” please,” etc.
- The Spiffiest Giant in Town by Julia Donaldson – is a book and according to its description, the readers are told “that sometimes it is what’s inside a person or a giant that matters the most”. The story shows students that just by showing random acts of kindness a person’s perception can be changed.
- World Smile Day Coloring Page – provided by Home Schooling, where students can color in their own smiley face character and read a short excerpt about Harvey Ball.
So we see, that activities like the ones mentioned above are conducted for students across the world to smile, also teaching them the importance of smiling and making others smile. Along with these, there are also various activities being carried out to spread the smiles at workplaces too.
So to everyone out there, wish your life full of happiness and may you have plenty of reasons to smile because there may be someone whose smile depends on you. So, don’t forget to SMILE a while and keep others smiling!
Last Updated on by Indranee Deb