What if I had stopped and shouted?!

I remember an incident today as I was coming back home. Something that had happened about a year ago. I was on my bike pacing on a moderate speed in a freer lane while I spot right in the middle of the road, a woman trying to cross with her kid. It was a complete shocker for me and for her a bigger one. We both knew it was her fault and I stopped wanting to give her a piece of my mind. 

I just looked at her and she had this sheepish look on her face, I couldn’t help but just smile and the response I got was surprising, she smiled too, a very sheepish one and I could tell that she was very embarrassed about it. I completely forgot that it was the same me who was all prepared to shout at her and I ended up smiling.

It was nothing extraordinary that made me smile, if I recall well it was a stupid smile at both ends. Neither of us apologized, neither of us shouted and I am sure neither of us left there with a soreness about each other. Even after a year now, I still remember it and it makes me smile.

It is not that I don’t shout at people now, but I can’t help  but wonder, what if I extend the same smile. Perhaps things would be very different and I would be less stressed as I start my day. Perhaps the value of a smile is sometimes highly underrated! :)