Our teacher, Mrs Ball, gave us a teensy tip in class the other day.
She said we should smile and wave when cars stop to let us cross the road at the zebra crossing. She was specifically talking about the one outside our school – but then she said that any old zebra crossing would do.
We all looked at her.
Why?
Cars are supposed to stop at a zebra crossing to let people go safely across the road. But they often don’t. In fact, they speed up and zoom over it without even looking.
Wayne piped up that this really was true. He nearly got squished as flat as a pancake last week – expecting somebody to stop and they didn’t.
But Mrs Ball stood her ground. When somebody has the courtesy to stop and let you cross the road safely – it costs you nothing to look the person in the eye, smile and wave thank you. It’s a nice, kind gesture.
She reckons the world is often sorely lacking in basic human kindness.
People are so caught up in their own lives, with their own problems that they have forgotten how to be nice – for no reason at all.
That reminded me of the little smiling experiment I did at the mall a few months ago. I remembered that had worked too. When I smiled at other people – most of them smiled back at me. It also made me feel good. Plus I noticed that many of the people carried on walking down the mall, still smiling.
We had the chance to try out her idea later that day. A few of us were waiting in a group at the zebra crossing. A car coasted to a complete halt and let us all walk across.
I looked up, smiled and waved. Some of my classmates were also in the group. They did the same thing.
The people in the car smiled and waved back. They only carried on driving after we were all on the other side of the road.
Some kids that were also crossing (who’re not in our class) asked why we were waving and smiling at strange people. I explained to them what Mrs Ball had said to us.
They had just seen what a positive reaction we had received and agreed that it was a good idea.
Smile awhile!
Sibo
Your new word for the week:
Word: gesture
Meaning: movement or sign
Example… Smiling and waving when you cross at a zebra crossing is a nice gesture.