This event happened a long time ago, but it is something that has stayed with me all these years. When I was in high school, all of the students went on a retreat( ).At some point, we were given an exercise where we had to go off by ourselves in silence to do some writing. As everyone was walking around the retreat center to find a quiet place, I saw a boy who looked kind of down . I did not know him but we locked eyes for a moment and I smiled at him. It felt simply natural to give someone a friendly smile. I could not go to talk to him because of the restriction( 限 制 ) on speaking at that time. I had no idea how that smile gesture would affect him until later. After the quiet time, we regrouped and there was a discussion and sharing time. This boy shared that he had been feeling very sad but that one girl gave him a friendly smile and it helped. Just that small connection ( 联系 )with someone else had cheered him up. He said it helped him not feel so alone. I am so glad that boy shared his feelings with the group. This story is from 20 years ago. The boy was not someone I ever saw again. However, I will never forget the lesson he gave about the importance of a simple smile which we all can do.