Were you taught how to smile?
Or were you born with the ability to create a captivating, friendly, approachable face?
I know several people who had to learn to smile and they did so by
practicing in a mirror every day.
A smile is more than just lips and teeth — a smile is delivering
brightness in the eyes, alertness in ears that are pulled back just a
bit and in rising eyebrows that wrinkle the forehead.
A face is semiotically comprehended in pieces and if some of those
parts are missing then misunderstandings are conveyed instead of intent
as the receiver wonders if there is an authenticity deficit in the
toothless half-smile tempting a sneer or in the strangely smooth and
expressionless forehead.
In
a business meeting those semiotic misunderstandings can mean disaster
and on the street those facial miscues can lead to death.