Behind Every Smile

Day by day. We get to see amusing and radiant faces of people at home, at work, in school, at the park or at the market. Many at times they greets us with a charming smile on their faces. They keep this smilling face anytime they are around others. At a particular time in their lifes when they are alone, do they still maintain this smilling face, does it reflects deep inside them. A lot of people smile outside but deep down in their heart, they are going through a very tough and challenging moment. The smile is actually a disguise, there is a pain deep inside them that they have been enduring and hiding. They smile, to maintain their position among friends and colleagues, so they won't pity them or look down on them. It's such a huge pain that it's difficult to acquaint friends or family with. Many happy faces we see around are going through something worse, family problems, broken marriages, single parenthood, pressure at work, peer pressure, they are all problems many encounters in their life.

A Short Story..........

Pauline was just an ordinary girl, from an average family, the only girl in her family and the last born. Her parents did their best to train her in the right way. They made sure she had a sound education. They sent her to one of the best schools in the country. As soon as she graduated from college, she got married at a young age of 23. Her husband's father was a close friend to her dad. The couple relocated to another country after their marriage. They both had a nice job that pays them well and everything seems okay with them.

Everything turns around when Pauline discovers her husband's strange attitude, he comes home late and hardly talks to her. Things continued like that for a while till she decided to confront her husband one day. What exactly was wrong with him, and why has he refused to talk to her again. Then, her husband let the cat out of the bag. He told Pauline he does not like her at all, he only married her because his parents begged him to. They wanted to repay her family for the kindness they have shown them through the past years. How they have helped his family financially, it's all thanks to them for him to be where he is now. He told her that he won't be able to leave the house for her because it's both risky for them, they both might lose their job. What will Pauline do? She can't get a divorce, they just got married less than three months, her father did all he can to make sure she remained happy in her marriage, they cannot get a divorce, it will cause a conflict between the two families. With all these circumstances, Pauline kept thinking of what the outcome would be if she gets a divorce, will she be able to handle it. She felt pained for been deceived, who will she blame for this? What will she do now? Her workers at her work place noticed and asked her what's wrong with her but she would simply reply with a smile on her face that nothing was wrong with her.

Just like Pauline, many are going through pains similar and bigger than this. They have tried to conform with the status quo and pretend things were going very well. Of course they wish to get out of such horrible situation but they just can't due to some unfavorable circumstances. Let us make it our aim to always cheer them up. We shouldn't jugde a book by its cover. We should try and get familiar with them, to know if it really worth them smilling.

Lead Image source: unsplash

Thank you for reading ♥️♥️♥️