I Think You’re Beautiful

A few weeks ago I ran into a local Korean deli for a late afternoon snack.  It was my usual place, owned and operated by an elderly, hard-working, not-overly-friendly husband and wife team.

As I stood on line at the sandwhich counter, a man queued up behind me.  He looked a little rough around the edges, but that’s not unusual in New York City.  We stood there waiting and he smiled at me.  The New Yorker in me said, “Don’t encourage him,” but my Inner Smile burst forth spontaneously.

Then the deli man handed me my sandwich and I went to get a bottle of water.

Lo and behold,  me and Mr. Rough-Around-the-Edges bumped into each other once more at the cash register.  He smiled again and this time said, “You’re beautiful.”

I easily could have taken this for a line, a come on, a rude intrusion.  But my Libran nature, I admit, has always welcomed compliments, and instead of ignoring him, “Thank you,” I said, “You’re beautiful, too.”  I hadn’t expected “You’re beautiful, too” to pop out.

It could have been a big mistake to tell a strange man he was beautiful, inviting all kinds of misunderstanding and an unwelcome escalation of sexual advances, but he was quite surprised.  Maybe even more surprised than I was.  There was a slowing down of time, a holy instant pause of quiet beauty as Love hung in the air between us.

Then, unexpectedly, the chronically grumpy wife behind the cash register, piped up in a thick Korean accent, “You don’t tell me I’m beautiful!”  She had a little smile on her face.

“You are beautiful,” the rough-around-the-edges guy said sincerely. “I just don’t want to get your husband angry!”

In response to his comment, her smile broadened.  Then,  as she took my money, she looked me in the eye and said, “You are beautiful.”

The Love was contagious.  “You’re beautiful!” I replied enthusiastically.

We all burst out laughing from sheer happiness!

A Course in Miracles teaches that, “There are no strangers in God’s creation,” and the Holy Spirit “sees no strangers; only dearly loved and loving friends.”

The moral of the story?  Dare to say nice things to strangers.  And receive the nice things they say to you.  You will heal exponentially, and miracles will ripple throughout the world.

Copyright © 2011 Amy Torres.  All rights reserved worldwide.