The Good: #TheSmileInitiative

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#TheSmileInitiative

 The Smile Initiative is people doing good things for other people for the sole reason of getting them to smile. According to its creator, Terry Missouri, it started as just an idea,  sparked by an online video of a man doing a good thing for a homeless person just to make him happy with nothing in it for himself in return but a smile.

This is the video —> HERE

Everyday there are people in our community with no good reason to smile. They are stepped over even by the poorest of people. They are convinced people don’t care about them.  They think they are the lowest in society.  This initiative fosters the ideals of ending racism, classism, and general disregard for our fellow man, especially the homeless. 

With recent government rulings in major cities all over America it is beginning to extremely difficult for the homeless population and people that feed the homeless. There are laws against panhandling, sleeping on park benches, washing up in public bathrooms, camping outside, sleeping under blankets in public and even feeding the homeless hot meals. Homeless_and_cold-599x275 I’m sure by now you have seen the images of spikes under bridges and coin operated spiked benches to keep the homeless from sleeping in prime areas in London.  Anything we can do to help our fellow man is a good thing so I wanted to share #TheSmileInitiative with you because you can help.

The Smile Initiative works by one person doing something for someone else just to see them smile. The impact that you make by doing something nice gives people hope.  Its also important that people that do good things get credit for their random acts of love, when people see others doing good things they want to do good things too and  it spreads from one person to another.

Terry is quoted saying, “Hate is like a virus that eats away at society and the only cure is LOVE. Pure genuine love. Its easy to not do good things, all it takes is apathy, but doing good things is contagious. Love is an antidote to hate and that is what we want to spread” a theory he says comes from the late great Bob Marley. 

The great thing about #TheSmileInitiative is that anyone can participate. Just do something good for someone else. That’s all.  There are active chapters in Baltimore, MD,  San Diego, CA, Philadelphia,PA,  Houston, TX and Oklahoma. There are also chapters forming in Austin TX and London, England. The goal is to have a Smile Initiative chapter in each major city.

If you are interested in doing good in your city and want to get involved you can email Terry at missouri.t.s@gmail.com or you can inbox The Smile Initiative on Facebook.

“Make others smile in whatever way you can. Most of the time the greatest gifts we can give others cost us nothing but mean the world to them.”

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