This smile on my face

    I smile a lot these days.  There is a reason behind my smile. And it’s not such a long story. Let me tell it to you.

    I’m a writer. Now that sounds so good. So classy. It is the reason I landed at Writing.Com.

    Initially, it was just another site for me where I could read and get tips on my writing. I must admit I was a bit shy to display my work to others. I wasn’t sure if I was ready for criticism. But as I read the writings of people I’ve never met or known, I mustered the courage to upload my own work.

    I got a review, a pleasant one and it gave me high like nothing else could. It got me thinking, ‘If I feel so good on receiving a comment, others would too if I gave them reviews for their work.’ That’s when I got hooked. I kept my comments as suggested, honest and encouraging. I gave gift points whenever I could. In return, I started receiving messages of gratitude and gift points. I felt as excited as a child. I began looking forward to opening my mail each morning. And every time I opened my mail, I smiled. Oh yes, I started smiling a lot and I started reviewing a lot.

    It was this give and take relationship that made me realize, reaching out is the best gift you can give yourself. When I communicated with other writers, I felt their humanness. Through their writing, I felt their love, their warmth, their pride; sometimes I felt their sorrow, sometimes their pain, but mostly their joy. Joy of being read and thus being heard. Joy of being able to share.

    I’m sure many writers have got over the famous writer’s block. I know I certainly have. Initially, I had taken my writing for granted. But now I’m rarely without a pen and paper to jot down my thoughts whenever I can.

    Writing.Com has made so many people from vast and varied backgrounds to come together. Online, we keep our prejudices aside and interact solely on a human basis. There is no racism, no regionalism, no communalism. We are as one. Well of course there might be an E.T. or two we are communicating with and aren’t aware of, but then, does it matter?

    Does it matter if I’m interacting with a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim or a Hindu or a Buddhist or a cancer victim or a physically challenged person or a lawyer or a doctor or an Oxford professor or a plumber or a mother or a grandfather or a wife or a black or a white or a yellow or a brown? Does it matter at all?

    No it doesn’t. All the matters is the work we share. All that matters is the happiness we spread. All the matters are the friends we make. All that matters is the smile on my face.