If there is one thing I have missed the most during the COVID-19 pandemic（大流行）, it has been seeing other people smile. When every face has a mask on it, you might feel safer. But your soul might start to feel sick. Over these last months, I’ve learned to notice the sparkle（闪光）in people’s eyes that they still have when they smile from behind a mask. Still, it isn’t quite the same.

I cherish（珍惜）every smile like a treasure. As I grew up, my mom’s smile added joy to my days. I am so happy that it lives on today in the faces of my children. My grandma’s smile always had a happy “Hello!” to go along with it. My dad’s smile was more rare（稀少的）, but I always loved seeing it.

Over the years, I have also learned a lot about smiles. I read once that “We don’t smile because we are happy. We are happy because we smile.”

I also read that “I have never seen a smiling face that wasn’t beautiful.” And I know that both of these things were true. What I remember most, though, is something I once heard from my teacher. He said, “If nobody wants us to be happy, why does smiling feel so good and frowning feel so bad?”

It doesn’t matter if you are wearing a mask or not. It doesn’t matter if your teeth are white or yellow, many or few. Show the world your smile. Smiles lift our spirits. Smiles share our love.

Smiles spread our joy. Smiles shine our light. Smiles warm our hearts. Smiles make the world a better place. One of the greatest, kindest and most loving things you can do is give another person your smile.

Amy and Susan both live an average（普通的）life. They have an average house, an average job and an average family. There is really nothing special about their lives, but there is also nothing really negative（消极的）about their lives.

However, when they are both happy, it always seems that Amy is happier than Susan. It looks like nothing can trouble Amy. She is the life of the party and always has a big smile on her face. Susan can’t stop thinking about this. How is Amy so happy? They go to the same stores, watch the same movies and even have similar timetables! How can Amy be so carefree when life is so stressful?

Between one’s daily life and personal dreams, there is no way one can be so happy all the time. There are always a million things going on. But when Susan asks Amy about this. Amy says, “I just take life as it comes. It seems pretty easy then.”

So what is the difference between these two friends? How is it that Amy’s life seems so much better most of the time? The problem with Susan is that she spreads herself too thin. While she tries to do everything all at once and think about everything all at once, Amy does everything one step at a time. She lives in the present and allows herself to pay attention to just one thing at a time. When you. live each moment to the fullest, most of your stress will go away.