Nell MohneyThis is a story by Mike Cihla and sent to me by a friend.
After losing both parents, 6-year-old Jaden Hayes of Savannah, Ga., has embarked on a mission to help others to smile. His father died when Jaden was 4 years old, and last month his mother died unexpectedly in her sleep. Jaden was the one who found her. He said, “I tried and I tried and I tried to wake her up, but I couldn’t.”
Jaden is understandably heartbroken, but he has had a hard time processing his grief. He told his aunt, and now his guardian, Barbara DiCola, that he was tired of seeing so many people who never smiled and had “frowny faces.” Then he asked, “How do you get people to smile?”
She told him that the best way was to smile at them first. Yet she warned him that the technique didn’t work on everyone. Then he asked, “Well, what if you give them a toy?”
His plan was being formed, and he asked his aunt to buy him some toys and then take him to downtown Savannah so he could give them away.