May The Forced Smile Be With You

There are many types of smiles.  Just check the emoticons on my iPhone:  Crooked.  Cocky.  Sweet.  Sarcastic.  Angelic.  Devilish. Toothy. Tight-lipped. There are smiles that are orthodontically-improved. There are smiles that are dentally-challenged.   Lately, I've been thinking about one smile in particular.  The forced smile.  What exactly is a forced smile?  I'm not entirely sure.  But I keep forcing characters in the script I'm writing to smile in a forced way.  "She forces a smile." "He forces a smile."  So today, in honor of my forced smilers, I'm going to force myself to smile at things that aren't smile-worthy.  I need to experience this forced smiling thing firsthand. When someone cuts me off in traffic, I will force a smile before flipping off the driver. When someone cuts in line at the market, I will force a smile before yelling, "No, cuts, beyotch!" When someone tells me something I don't want to hear, something like, "I ate the last Skinny Cow mocha ice cream bar," I will force a smile before removing him from the will.