SMILE šŸ˜Š

Posted on by under Social commentary, Tributes

Remember on Jolly Monday I told you there would be a surprise on Friday?Ā  Well … itā€™s Friday!Ā  And … {šŸ„Ā Drumroll šŸ„} it is World Smile Day!Ā  Yes, there really is such a thing … let me tell you just a bit about it.

You know those cute smiley emoticonsĀ  šŸ™‚Ā that most of us use multiple times a day to convey mirth or joy?Ā  Well, those icons have a history and that history is linked to World Smile Day … and naturally, I am about to tell you a bit about the history behind the smiley and the day.

harvey-ballThe year was 1963.Ā  Harvey Ball was a commercial artist who had started his own company, Harvey Ball Advertising in Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1959.Ā  A local company, State Mutual Life Assurance Company, hired Ball to come up with an image to increase employee morale which was at an all-time low following a recent merger.Ā  What he created was a smiley face, with one eye bigger than the other. In less than ten minutes, Harvey Ball came up with the simple yet world-changing smiley face. The simplicity of the image brought smiles to the faces of the executives, who paid him a whopping $45 for his creation.Ā  That image went on to become the most recognizable symbol of good will and good cheer on the planet.

That $45 was the only financial reward Harvey ever saw from his creation, but hereā€™s the neat thing about Harvey … he didnā€™t care.Ā  According to his son, he always said, ā€œHey, I can only eat one steak at a time, drive one car at a time.ā€Ā  Now thatā€™s an attitude Iā€™d surely like to see more businessmen have!

Anyway, time went by, and the smiley face caught on like wildfire. By 1971, the smiley face was the hottest selling image in the country: an estimated fifty million smiley buttons alone had been sold, and the image appeared on countless other products as well. But Harvey Ball became concerned about the over-commercialization of his symbol, and how its original meaning and intent had become lost in the constant repetition of the marketplace.Ā  And of that concern was born World Smile Day!Ā  Harvey felt that all of us should devote one day each year to smiles and kind acts throughout the world.

Harvey declared that the first Friday in October each year would henceforth be World Smile Day, and thus it has been since the first one in 1999, not just in Worcester, Massachusetts, and not just in the U.S., but around the world!Ā  Take a look …

Sadly, Harvey died two years later, but even today his legacy lives on, not just in the form of recognition of World Smile Day, but in the Harvey Ball World Smile Foundation that was created to honour his name and his memory.Ā  The Foundation is a non-profit charitable trust that supports children’s causes. The group licenses Smileys and organizes World Smile Day, which takes place on the first Friday of October each year and is a day dedicated to “good cheer and good works”. The catchphrase for the day is “Do an act of kindness – help one person smile”.Ā  I like that, donā€™t you?

Now, we see those smileys just about every day, in a wide variety of colours and in the last few years there is an entire encyclopedia of smileys, some of which are doing almost everything but smiling! šŸ˜ šŸ™„Ā šŸ˜¬ šŸ¤¤Ā But Harveyā€™s original smiley is unique, distinguishable from all the others.Ā  A Harvey Ball smiley face can be identified by three distinguishing features: Narrow oval eyes (with the one on the right slightly larger than the one on the left), a bright sunny yellow color, and a mouth that is not a perfect arc, which has been claimed to be similar to a “Mona Lisa Mouth”. The face has creases at the sides of the mouth, and the mouth is slightly off-center (with the right side a little higher than the left) and the right side of the mouth is a slightly thicker than on the left.Havey-Ball-smileyAnd now that you know the origin of the smiley, and you know that today is World Smile Day, how ā€˜bout going out there and doing just one small kindness for someone?Ā  Anything … help a neighbor carry in his or her groceries, buy a friend lunch, help an elderly person across the street or up the stairs, just something … anything.Ā  You know what … youā€™ll bring a smile to that personā€™s face, but since smiles are contagious, youā€™ll get a smile back in return.Ā  Oh, and by the way folks … in case you need an extra, Iā€™ve left a basket of smileys by the door … feel free to take one … better yet, take two and share one!Monday-basket-smiles

This post is dedicated to our friend Ellen, who told me about World Smile Day last weekend, and then reminded me last night, which was fortuitous, for I had forgotten.Ā  This oneā€™s for you, Ellen.

smiley

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34 thoughts on “SMILE šŸ˜Š”

  1. Pingback: Snarky Snippets Volume MLXIV | Filosofa's Word

  4. Question: When is the first time you heard anyone say to you, “Have a nice day”? I ask for a reason. The first time I heard it was the summer of 1968 in Vancouver, BC. The words came from a female friend of mine I had known back in Winnipeg as we were growing up. We ran into each other as hippies in Hippietown Canada. Whether Canada or the USA, something about the West Coast attracted hippies from all over, the weather was never so cold you had to move permanently indoors.
    But as usual, I ramble. June Cristie was a sweet innocent girl who gave away flowers to everyone, but don’t ask where she got them. She always gave them with the sweetest smile one could ever imagine. As we parted that particular day, she had no flower left to give me, so she gave me a verbal flower instead, “Have a nice day.” Now I am not saying she invented the sentiment, but she could have. I know I started using it the very same day, and it spread through Hippietown like a growing garden. If anyone has an earlier memory of the use of those smiling words, I would love to hear it. When June said that to me, it was a sincere wish. Later it was co-opted by the straights, and said with a lot less sincerity. But like a lot of other things that were started by Winnipeggers, I like to think this one was too.
    June deserves to be its inventor, she was the sweetest person I ever met in my life.
    šŸ˜ŠšŸ˜ŠšŸ˜ŠšŸ˜ŠšŸ˜Š

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  7. In Dale Carnegie’s book “How To Win Friends & Influence People”, originally published in October of 1936, there is a whole chapter about smiling. The poem “The Value of a Smile” that is found in that chapter has become well known and it seems fitting that I share it with you on World Smile Day. “It costs nothing, but creates much. It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give. It happens in a flash, and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever. None are so rich they can get along without it and none are so poor but are richer for its benefits. It creates happiness in the home, fosters goodwill in business, and is the countersign of friends. It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and nature’s best antidote for trouble. Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed or stolen, for it is something that is no earthly good to anyone ’til it is given away.” The true value of a smile, given or received, is incalculable. Smiley is an American treasure that has been shared with the world. I am so pleased that you shared Harvey Ball’s story and World Smile Day. The dedication brought both smiles and tears of joy! Thank-YOU!

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