That "one moment"

I had this flashback this morning about one of our past hospital visits with our youngest daughter Emily. It made me smile and I thought it was worth a re-post. November 14, 2013 my youngest daughter and I were leaving the hospital. I remember fondly an elderly man sitting looking out the hospital window. As we approached, our daughter really wanted to say, "Hello" and during that time his hand met hers, while she met his. The elderly man was smiling from ear to ear. This man's daughter was standing near and she explained that he hasn't smiled in days. I remember the woman started to tear. That's all it takes, acknowledgement. This post is located here at http://hohnsteins.blogspot.ca/2013/11/hospital-smiles.html on my blog. This morning while having coffee I was thinking about how important acknowledgement is. Many of us forget that a simple smile and/or "Hello, have a good day!" can make a world of difference. We are all struggling battles others are unaware of, and a huge percentage of our population suffers from either a mental illness, or unfortunately loneliness. I've always believed that when someone is grumpy, angry or behavioral (whatever you want to call their attitude) they just need some form of acknowledgement. Thinking back now three years ago visualizing that mans smile and for that "one moment" his heart was filled with joy and that makes me want to spread that moment more.... To remind people that we can make differences just by smiling at each other. Acknowledgement (I think) is the most important communication attribute we can carry from one day to the next. "We always always always try to change some ones day with a few little words and a simple little smile"