Smile for a Stranger

“When two ladies smiled at this writer, I wondered for a moment if I had met them before,” wrote Kazuhiko Nagoya, a writer for Tokyo’s Daily Yomiuri newspaper in his “Spice of Life” column. “The way they smiled, it looked as though they had recognized me from a previous meeting and were happy to see me again.” But this was not the case: “I looked hard at their faces and found that they were total strangers.” When two other people did the same, he said, “I felt very happy. That is the way those people smile at a stranger, when they spot him at any of their meetings.”

What people give such a welcome to strangers? “The place was Okoku Kaikan (The Kingdom Hall),” said Mr. Nagoya, “one of the many places in Japan where [Jehovah’s Witnesses] get together.” He also observed: “A remarkable thing about the people who gather in the hall three times a week is that all of them are ardent followers of Christianity and none of them attend the meetings perfunctorily or just out of a habit. The power of faith brings together these men, women and children, who call each other ‘kyodai’ (brother) or ‘shimai’ (sister). And the power of faith has been attracting more and more people to the society over the years.”

In conclusion the writer told of another visit to the Kingdom Hall: “When I was about to leave after the meeting, a boy, about 10 years old, came up to me and said: ‘We are glad you came today. Please come back.’ He had that special smile on his face. I was happy because this was the first time a child of that age who is a stranger to me had smiled and talked to me like that.”