World of Smiles

About ten years ago when I was an undergraduate in college, I was working as an intern at my University’s Museum of Natural History. One day while working at the cash register in the gift shop, I saw an elderly couple come in with a little girl in a wheelchair.

As I looked closer at this girl, I saw that she was kind of perched on her chair. I then realized she had no arms or legs, just a head, neck and torso. She was wearing a little white dress with red polka dots.

As the couple wheeled her up to me I was looking down at the register. I turned my head toward the girl and gave her a wink. As I took the money from her grandparents, I looked back at the girl, who was giving me the cutest, largest smile I have ever seen. All of a sudden her handicap was gone and all I saw was this beautiful girl, whose smile just melted me and almost instantly gave me a completely new sense of what life is all about. She took me from a poor, unhappy college student and brought me into her world; a world of smiles, love and warmth.

That was ten years ago. I’m a successful business person now and whenever I get down and think about the troubles of the world, I think about that little girl and the remarkable lesson about life that she taught me.

十年前我还是一名在校大学生，那时我在学校的自然历史博物馆实习。一天，在礼品店的收银机那儿工作时，我看到一对老年夫妇推着一个坐轮椅的小女孩走了进来。

近看这个小女孩时，我注意到她几乎是完全被放在轮椅里，意识到她没有胳膊和腿，只剩下了头部、脖子以及躯干了。她穿着一件小白裙，上面还有红色的圆点花纹。

当这对夫妇推着她走到我身边时，我低头看了看清单。转头看到小女孩，于是我对她眨了眨眼睛。从她爷爷奶奶手中接钱的时候，我又看了一眼小女孩，她正向我展示我所见过的最可爱、最宽大的笑容。就在那一霎那间，她的身体缺陷消失了，我看到的只是一个美丽的女孩儿，她的笑容使我融化，并几乎立刻使我对人生有了一种新的认识。她把我这个贫穷而不幸的大学生带进了她的世界，一个充满微笑、爱和温暖的世界。

那已经是十年前的事情了。现在我已经成为一名成功的商人。无论何时当我感到沮丧，回想到世界上的烦恼时，我就会想起那个小女孩以及她教给我的那堂不寻常的课。