So, I just finished my first day of school as an 8th grader, and I gotta say one thing: the 7th graders are TINY!!!! Was I that small?? No way... I have some new teachers and some teachers who taught me last year and I don't know what it's going to be like. There are three new girls in my class, and they are all very sweet. Everyone 'Ooh'ed and 'Aah'ed on everyone else, and it was great to see my friends!
Now, I was thinking... There has been all this hate going around in this world, and, I mean, is there any point? OK, FINE, disagree but does have to end up in death or other horrible stuff I would not like to mention? Now, as an activist of happiness, I have found a solution that can solve everything... And what is it? Ice-cream! Wouldn't it be great if a random Arab and Jew can have ice-cream and talk instead of just fighting? So, calling all people who believe in happiness and ice-cream - STEP FORWARD and demand for your side to be heard!
I have a neighbor, a teenaged girl who did something that got me thinking... I was sitting outside my synagogue waiting for Abba to come out on Shabbat, talking to her about this coming school year. And then some random teenaged girl passes by, and my neighbor said 'Shabbat shalom', that random girl smiles at her and says 'Shabbat shalom' back. I was surprised because I knew of that random girl, and I knew that she wasn't really like my neighbor and they went to different schools. I asked her if she knew that girl that just had passed, and she said no. I was even more surprised and now impressed, and I asked her if she says Shabbat shalom to everybody who passes her, and she said, simply 'Not only on Shabbat, but every day! Why not?', and I repeated quietly 'why not?' again and again, even now. Why not? Why not say hello? Is there something wrong, socially by saying hello to people on the street? Why aren't we taught in school that it's OK and we SHOULD be friendly on the street? Not too friendly, by all means!! SMILE, say good morning or whatever, and I'm telling you, it will change the world. No one ever said that just one person, three, six people can't change the world, but what I DO know is that I am affecting my friends and family by the way I act. I want my friends to know that you can eat healthy and still have chocolate! I want my friends to learn that anybody can march up to somebody and compliment them. I do my part to make this world a better place. And you know what? Sometimes the world holds a grudge, but it won't stay like that! I try to compliment my friends on a good quality of theirs, or something they are wearing every day, as well as pep talks twice a week. But it's not only me, I try to learn from my friends! If it weren't for my friends, I would never be able to keep up my diet from their support, I would never be able to look positively on life if it weren't for my friends, because THEY are positive people, and when they have a hard time, I use what I learned from them to make them feel better. Today, at school, I saw a girl wearing the most breath-taking top and I was about to tell her how much I liked it, and then, last minute, I chickened out. And now, I'm regretting it. Why? Because it would've made that girl smile, and smiling is contagious.
Why not? Why not say hello to random people on the street? Why not compliment people all the time? Why not? Think about it...
