I went to my college the other day, to pick up my mail. The porter was there, quite cheerful, watching his computer screen. So I started to talk to him.
- “Why are you smiling?”, I said.
- “Well, this computer’s crashed again”, he replied.
- “To be honest that happens to me all the time, and when it does I don’t really feel like smiling”.
- “You see, that’s what most people do, but for some reason I have a tendency to smile no matter what happens”, he continued.
I thought that was quite interesting so I carried on:
- “You know, that’s actually very good. I personally have a hotter temper, but they say that people who smile a lot, live longer.”
He started to laugh, then looked me in the eyes and said:
- “Funny you should say that, because I’ve got cancer. And it's not going very well.”
The time stopped for a few moments and then I wished the guy behind me was a big dragon just about to swallow me. I felt dreadful, I apologised for bringing this up and didn’t know what else to say. The man seeing my noticeable distress thought he could cheer me up, by giving me a free life lesson. His life lesson.
- “I was diagnosed four years ago, had a surgery, chemotherapy and all the rest. After the initial shock, I’ve realised one thing. Life is indeed short, and precious. A gift. And I wasn’t really enjoying it before, because I never thought about the end. But when you realise that quite soon you have to go, you sit down and ask yourself one question: What is actually important for me? What do I want to do with the time that I’ve got? And for me, the answer was simple. I want to smile and enjoy every second of it. All those problems most people worry about, are meaningless. But, by the time they figure this out, it’s a bit too late. I don’t know how much longer this story will go on for me, but smiling certainly helps.”
And then he started to laugh again. The computer was back to life.
I’m going to see him again on Sunday.
- “Why are you smiling?”, I said.
- “Well, this computer’s crashed again”, he replied.
- “To be honest that happens to me all the time, and when it does I don’t really feel like smiling”.
- “You see, that’s what most people do, but for some reason I have a tendency to smile no matter what happens”, he continued.
I thought that was quite interesting so I carried on:
- “You know, that’s actually very good. I personally have a hotter temper, but they say that people who smile a lot, live longer.”
He started to laugh, then looked me in the eyes and said:
- “Funny you should say that, because I’ve got cancer. And it's not going very well.”
The time stopped for a few moments and then I wished the guy behind me was a big dragon just about to swallow me. I felt dreadful, I apologised for bringing this up and didn’t know what else to say. The man seeing my noticeable distress thought he could cheer me up, by giving me a free life lesson. His life lesson.
- “I was diagnosed four years ago, had a surgery, chemotherapy and all the rest. After the initial shock, I’ve realised one thing. Life is indeed short, and precious. A gift. And I wasn’t really enjoying it before, because I never thought about the end. But when you realise that quite soon you have to go, you sit down and ask yourself one question: What is actually important for me? What do I want to do with the time that I’ve got? And for me, the answer was simple. I want to smile and enjoy every second of it. All those problems most people worry about, are meaningless. But, by the time they figure this out, it’s a bit too late. I don’t know how much longer this story will go on for me, but smiling certainly helps.”
And then he started to laugh again. The computer was back to life.
I’m going to see him again on Sunday.
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