Smile on demand

Posted by Cristian Livadaru on Saturday, June 19, 2021

It’s been a while, even though it’s a month since restaurants are open, I’m still lacking the feeling that I can just go places, grab something to eat while sitting in a restaurant, but today was one of the days where I remembered that I can actually go to a restaurant and sit there for as long as I want.While waiting for my food, I chatted with the owner, looking at people passing by, tourists, locals, pride parade visitors, I almost got the feeling that everything is back to normal, forgetting that a few minutes earlier I had to present a negative COVID test to be able to sit at the restaurant table and that the waiter serves me while wearing a mask. I looked at the next door bar, there seems to be some event, lots of people outside, drinking, talking, having fun, enjoying the summer. Someone carries a rather large thing out, looks like Musik equipment, seems like they also had live Musik. A member of the band exists from the bar and takes a seat on the music equipment, she looks tired, takes out her phone, stretches her hand to a selfie stick, and puts on a huge smile, snapping several pictures while twisting her head in multiple positions. The phone goes down as does her smile. It’s like her smile is connected to the phone, no picture, no smile, back to the tired face. It’s hot today, working on such heat drains everyone, nothing wrong with being tired. Could be that it was a good gig, could be that it was a bad gig, who knows.

The phone goes up once more, as does her smile, a few more snapshots, the phone goes down with her smile again. This whole precedure is repeated several times, and every time when the phone goes down, so does the smile.

Everyone seeing those pictures will see enjoyment, happiness, probably success, maybe she is successful, I can’t say, but I can see what happens before and after the picture was shot.I’m not writing this to judge, I’m just writing my observations which remind me of Black Mirror, Season 3 Episode 1 of a society evolving around “likes”. Luckily we aren’t there yet, but in some people’s minds, we are. Bending over backward for the perfect Instagram shot, coming up with how the lives of others are based on some images on Instagram. Nobody sees what’s behind the picture, the struggle, the sorrows, and problems seem non-existent and there is a perfect and happy life in this picture, so why can’t I have this perfect and happy life?

Well, sorry to disappoint, but behind that perfect happy life in that picture is just a human being like you and me with a non-perfect life and everything that comes with it, and every one of us can choose how to deal with it.