I'm writing this for the benefit of those who will read it. If you know me, you will know I often am a very serious person. I smile, but I usually worry about work first.
Work takes many forms. It can be labour, where you work for payment of some kind, usually money or a credit. It can be exercise, where you work to get in shape or stay fit. It can be intellectual, you can try to think of a solution to an abstract or material problem.
My work often consists of emotional effort. I try to be there for friends when they need me. For whatever reason, my friends have found me to be one to whom they can turn for advice; or even just a listening ear. I've often stayed up late to talk with a friend who's going through some rough times.
Many people, however, prefer to consider work as boring, and they want to play all day. A friend of mine advised me in my psychology class today that I should smile more. I responded, "When the work is done."
I don't mind smiling from time to time. I often will just to see if my face still remembers how. Often though, I won't smile because I'm concentrating on the work at hand. I devote all my effort to getting through the day so I can be there for someone else. Some people might argue that others can handle their own issues. My response would be, "That's true. But every now and again, we all need a little help."
Others might argue that there are people who are paid to help them, or that they have other friends, let them do the work so you do't have so much to do. The people who are paid to help others often can help more because of some course they've taken, but they don't have the personal advantage that I do. I know the people who I'm helping, so I can sort better through solutions and can often work better with other people's schedules. As for the arguement that they have other friends to be there for them, if this is so then why are they coming to me?
I love my friends. I'd do almost anything for them. Some of them don't like me for various reasons. Some reasons I know, some I don't. Even so, they're family to me and I love them. So, I will smile. But I will wait til the work is done, or at least diminished, before I do.
