The Easiest Gift of All

"Some years ago, a department store in
New York City, in recognition of the pressures its sales clerks were under during the Christmas rush, presented the readers of its advertisements with the following homely philosophy:

The Value of a Smile at Christmas

It costs nothing, but creates much.
It enriches those who receive, without impoverishing those who give.
It happens in a flash and the memory of it sometimes lasts forever.
None are so rich they can get along without it, and none so poor but are richer
for its benefits.
It creates happiness in the home, fosters good will in a business, and is the countersign of friends.
It is rest to the weary, daylight to the discouraged, sunshine to the sad, and Nature's best
antidote for trouble.
Yet it cannot be bought, begged, borrowed, or stolen, for it is given away.
And if in the last-minute rush of Christmas buying some of our salespeople should be too tired to give you a smile, may we ask you
to leave one of yours?
For nobody needs a smile so much as those who have none left to give!"

from How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie