Some Flowers for a Smile, Monsieur?

Last night, near the end of the vernissage of an up and coming artist at Le Pavé d’Orsay where I work, I had a stimulating conversation with a French woman name Sophie. She has created an organization which collects flowers from florists that will be thrown away. Then they distribute them on the street to n’importe qui (anyone) in exchange for a just a smile. It think that’s wonderful idea! I want to join! Where do I sign up?

It reminds me of the little experiment I did in our apartment building. I placed flowers in the entry way and waited to see what happened. You can read about it here.

The older woman who lives above us (and who used to give us the “evil eye” wondering what kind of foreigners had invaded her building) now stops regularly on the steps to have a little chat. She’s told me about her vacation in Guadeloupe and her grandchildren, and a few other things. All because of flowers.

It doesn’t have to be flowers….what can you do to bring a smile to someone’s face? To bring a bit of joy into the world? To make the world a slightly better place?

Feel free to leave your ideas in the comment section below.