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The power of a smile… Do you know that if you smile to the world, the whole world smiles back at you? Well, I would like to try and convince you of this. Smiling is a simple act which is highly contagious. In 2016, I was plying the streets of Seoul in South Korea after representing my country in the annual meeting of the Global Network for the Responsibility to Protect Focal Points. I met these University students who were doing a project that has kept me thinking… They had printed the flag of South Korea on a round paper and a smile on the flip side. They said they are spreading smiles. They would approach every tourist who cared to listen, ask them how their experience has been so far and then request to take a photo with them. How do you say no to such a warm request? Their smiles were contagious… believe me, even we smiled without being asked to.

Back in 2002, Chris Hughes, the battalion commander of the 101st Airborne Division from Fort Campbell, Kentucky entered Iraq. Without focusing into the details per se, the small unit of American Soldiers was walking along a street in Najaf just outside the holiest Shia mosque one morning in 2003. Suddenly, hundreds of Iraqis who had heard rumors that the army intended to capture the mosque poured out of the buildings on either side. The crowd was angry; they waved their fists and shouted as they pressed into the battalion. At this point in time, any one of the army men could have opened fire and the world would have witnessed the worst of events. Worse still, Col. Hughes would have commanded the army to force itself through the crowd but look at what he did… As the soldiers stood face to face with this boiling mob, not having a clue as to the mob’s next action, Col. Hughes instructed them to ‘take a knee’ and ‘point their guns on the ground’. The soldiers must have thought that he was out of his mind. But, command had been given and they had to obey. I imagine that some of them were thinking just how this may be their last day since the crowd persisted with the protest. But then the Colonel threw in the magic bullet; he ordered the soldiers to smile! The Iraqis fell silent. Was it because they were surprised or was it because a smile is contagious? I actually don’t know. But what I know is that severe loss of life was averted by a smile in Najaf. Truly, a smile can win an opponent to your side, at least for a moment. So, let us keep smiling…

Sellah King’oro is the Assistant Director of Research, Policy, and Planning for the National Cohesion and Integration Commission in Kenya.