The same day that Trump won the 2016 election, I helped coach the Penn Sprint Football Team to a championship win. We went undefeated beating both of our rivals, Army and Navy. As I was heading home after celebrating with the team, I noticed that people seemed down. Their energy wasn’t the same. Something had changed in a lot of people who were anticipating an arduous upcoming 4 years. As a result of our undefeated, championship win, I was ecstatic and I couldn’t stop smiling. Looking back on it, I must have looked like an asshole. I decided that I wanted to share my happiness. If someone seemed down, I asked them if they wanted to smile with me. We will be smile partners for life. Smiling, even if you don’t feel happy, helps lift your mood and relieve stress. A lot of people were very receptive. It made some people’s days. I met some very interesting people that I may never see again, but I hope that they remember our interaction and the positivity that they felt taking a quick photo with the biggest smile they could produce. I tried to engage some NFL players to turn it into an anti-bullying campaign where students would smile with someone they don’t regularly interact with at school as a fun homework assignment. I didn’t get many responses, but I still continue to meet people through the power of positive interaction.
