Tears and a smile

Tears and a smile. Physiologically, both stem from the same source. It is why crying and laughing both result in the same feeling of relief. Socially, however, both are symbols of vastly different implications. For tears indicate vulnerability, while a smile represents confidence. Yet, both have the ability to be wielded expertly as dangerous weapons. And this has been proven in numerous settings -- the smile that wins customers; the tear that sways voters. In addition, cliche has it that a lady's tears are a man's greatest weakness. Similarly, Chinese saying warns of the smile that hides a dagger. It would thus seem that both tears and smiles possess immense influence upon human behaviour. But is either the more cruel?

Everywhere around the world, there is a common mantra that preparation for the worst rescues you from any harm that may come. This is summed up in what is more popularly known as Murphy's Law. Murphy's Law, in paraphrase, states that whatever bad you think can happen can indeed happen. But more pertinent to the issue at hand is the common business knowledge that a smile is paramount when dealing with customers. Everyone is taught that even if it does not grow from within the depths of your soul, you still have to force the smile. And to the smile-recipient, he knows that the smile is merely a gesture of courtesy. Today, the smile has become so rampant amidst social interactions that many people know how to react to one. With this intensive experience, it then follows that a smile that bears ill-intent would be more easily discerned. In fact, it would be situations lacking a smile that most people would feel uncomfortable in. For humans generally have a certain comfort zone that they are reluctant to step out of, and when faced with a new environment, would need time to adjust. Venturing into the other extreme of the smile, the tear would surely drive people into a markedly greater state of panic. They would shy away, react in anger or accede to every request of the crier. Because the tear is more rarely seen amongst normal lifestyles, people tend to react to it -- much more so than to the common smile. The tear thus seems to be the more potentially manipulative of the two.

And yet, if a baby receives constant attention from his parents, is he then a power-hungry being? No. Similarly, the tear is perhaps the more honest of the two. To accord to it the word of encouragement or perhaps a shoulder for support would only be fair. For the smile can and has been enhanced via oral cosmetic surgery. Many dentists even unabashedly advertise their services as providing you with the perfect smile. A neatly aligned row of white teeth peeking through widely parted lips have often exuded a definite sense of confidence. In addition, the truly ambitious have been known to spend hours in front of the mirror perfecting the smile. The curve of the lip, the squint of the eye, the amount of exposure of the teeth are but some of the considerations that they make. The smile -- it can be trained. But not so the tears. For there is nothing much you can enhance with tears. It is visually just a clear fluid. Even actors and actresses who seem to be able to cry on cue often attest to the greater ease when they recall a sad event in their lives. Still, it is true that one can induce tears by using certain stimulants like onions. However, the potential for enhancement of tears is still so minute that the mention of it seems incredulous in itself. And so, while the manipulative potential of tears are perhaps irrefutable, it is far more significant that it is the smile that is today being wielded with far more ambitious intent.

Of course, the small variety in crying makes it perfect for misinterpretation. Tears of immense sorrow or childish ones are not easily differentiated. What one person determines to be sad may not be deemed so by others. And so, when one cries, one treads the fine line between heroism and stupidity. Whoever decides which would do well to not mistake one for the other. One interpretation would lead to a concerned response; the other would lead to scorn. Essentially, if people are then able to master the tears the same way they have mastered the smile, then there is perhaps no difference to the potential for malice that both the smile and the tears bear.

Perhaps then, it is neither the smile nor the tear that is cruel. Perhaps, the only true cruel is the person who cries and smiles with ill intention...