27 Jul 2023 · 9 min
Thomas Anglero recounts a chance encounter with a young boy at the beach that shifted how he thinks about smiling and human connection. A moment of eye contact with the kid made him realize how much we hold back, and he reflects on what it means to radiate confidence and kindness instead of following social norms that keep us guarded.
Welcome to the Soul of Innovation podcast. I am Thomas Anglero, and I want to share with you a story, something I experienced yesterday that made me feel so good in the moment, and it was so simple, and yet I afterwards wondered, why does this not happen all the time? Let me tell you a story. Yesterday I was coming home from the beach like any other time, just walking home from the beach, tired and sweaty, hot, all those things. And as I'm walking home, I saw this little boy and his father. They were preparing the moped to ride home from the beach. The father was on his knees and unlocking the wheel to make sure, you know, nobody steals the moped while they were gone. And the little boy was standing there playing with the father's helmet, or his helmet. And the little boy looked up, and I turned my head and I looked at the little boy, and our eyes connected. This was one of the most handsome little kids I've ever seen. But it wasn't that he was handsome. Was the second our eyes connected, I saw him as an adult. It was crazy. I saw him, I saw him as an adult changing the world. I knew at that moment that that little boy, he was about 8 or 9 years old, is gonna be a world leader or he's gonna change the world. He's gonna be on some stage. He's gonna get recognition. The whole world's gonna know him. He— when our eyes connected, I just saw the vision of his future. And I just smiled. I didn't stop walking because I thought it'd be inappropriate, but I did slow down. But I kept on smiling. And the little boy, you know what he did? He stopped playing with his father's helmet. And he just smiled back at me too. And we had this powerful, powerful moment. It was so powerful that his father, who was on the other side of the moped on his knees, stopped what he was doing and he got up and he went to his son And he looked over the moped and he goes, are you okay? What's wrong? What's wrong? As if— because he could feel that the energy in the air, he could feel that this moment, that there's something had happened, but it wasn't bad. It was that two people connected, two people from two different parts of the world, one young, one old, just walking by each other. They synced up and had an intense moment. I kept on walking out of respect to the family. I don't know the kid. I don't know the father. I don't want to intrude. I don't know what the rules are in their family. But for a moment, I glanced back and I could see the kid was taking in the moment still and looking up the street to where I was going. Okay, it's unusual to have such intense moments, but the question is, why don't we have more intense moments when we see each other? Why did it have to be this intense moment when I'm coming back from the beach? It makes no sense to me. What is it that prevents us from looking at each other and having intense moments? What— why is it that when I walk down the street and I look at someone and we make eye contact, if it's a woman, they immediately, you know, throw their hair back or like, you know, try and— as if I'm trying to give them validation. I'm not giving— I'm just walking down the street. Why is it that it has to be about validation? Why is it when you look at a guy, two men look at each other, one of them sticks their chest out and does the King Kong thing. Why are we there? We all want to be seen. We all want to be loved. We all want to be recognized. And you know what's really cool? We all want to be smiled at. Yet if someone smiles at you today, you think either they're a perv or they're a weirdo or there's something bizarre. But why is that? Remember when you were a kid? Remember when— I remember when I was a kid, we were told, my parents told me Smile at everybody, be polite. When you go to school, the first day of school, the new school, smile and be polite. Go and make friends and smile. Smile, smile, smile. Now today, you smile at somebody and there's something wrong with you. It's the wrong thing to do. But then other people say, do it, but when you do it, it gets off weird. What happened? Are you one of those people who say, I want people to smile at me, but the second someone smiles at you, you think it's weird? I'm gonna spend the entire day today smiling. I'm gonna spend the rest of the week smiling. And then see what happens. Hopefully I'll end up in jail. It's a horrible way to go. But I'm wondering what happened. What happened that the rules of society changed, that the way we connected and got to know each other no longer is valid. That little boy, he's something special. And not only did I see him being this person who changed the world, I saw him as this like muscular, built-up man. What a future. Why is it that we don't see this in each other. Why isn't that more of us have— don't have these interactions when we see strangers, when we walk down the street? We really should. We're all connected. We're on this small little planet. It doesn't make any sense that this is not happening more often. I want you to go forth and spread beauty and light. I want you to go forth and I want you to smile at people. I want people to feel you, not just see you, feel you. I want people to look at you and realize how amazing you are just with your smile. That is how you should be living. When you walk down the street People should be radiating. People should be blown away because they see the size, your potential. They see, they see all of you. They feel all of you. That's your goal. Just to walk down the street feeling your greatness, feeling your fullness. If you don't feel great in that moment, stop for a moment, center yourself. It's just the noise of life and judgment and things like that, but center yourself, find yourself. Be happy with yourself. You are who you are. You've gotten to where you've gotten, and you made it. Congratulations. Now radiate that and smile. That is how you should be walking down the street. And I hope you come across someone else just like you. And in that moment, you see each other's destiny. It's powerful and it's beautiful. To that little boy, if you someday hear this podcast or see this video, I'm proud of you. I saw it when you were young. Change the world. I'm Thomas Anglero. I'm your biggest fan. I love you, and I believe in you. Until next time.
