Go Sojiro, Keep on Smiling

One day you may find yourself get stuck in petty things and daily inconveniences and your grim face becoming the Grinch that stole Christmas.



Well, whatever transpires beneath you aren’t the concern of the entire world. Keep all the sorrow, pain, sadness within the boundary of your microcosm, at least that is what Sojiro thinks. Because up there in the entire world, all sentient beings too, are busy managing their own business.

So, you are practically all alone by yourself and therefore, you gotta cheer yourself up. here, I give you some kick starts.

Dr. Seuss - Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.

Louis Armstrong - When You’re Smiling

Cmon, Smile. Just keep on smiling. Like Sojiro.



But who the heck Sojiro is?

Ok I admit. I was the avid fan of japanese manga until not-so-long time ago. One of my all-time favorites is Rurouni Kenshin, or Samurai X in English.

Sojiro [Seta Sojiro] appears to be a jovial person, polite, and above all, constantly smiling. But all this manners actually stem from his tragic past. He is the the right hand of Sushio Makoto, the main antagonist character in Rurouni Kenshin. An illegitimate child that forced to then lived with the father’s family. There, the whole family were badly mistreated him. Sojiro built a defense against all the hardships by put on a smiling face, and endured the torture until they got tired of beating him and left him alone.

See? Just Smile. Smile and the world smiles with You.

And by the way, this is the work of the great Jalaluddin Rumi on smile.

A Smile and A Gentleness

There is a smile and a gentleness

inside. When I learned the name



and address of that, I went to where

you sell perfume. I begged you not 



to trouble me so with longing. Come

out and play! Flirt more naturally.



Teach me how to kiss. On the ground

a spread blanket, flame that’s caught



and burning well, cumin seeds browning,

I am inside all of this with my soul.

From Essential Rumi by Coleman Barks

And the Sojiro’s tragic story of the past doesn’t simply ends there. He actually killed all of them, I mean his father’s family, shortly before he became part of Sushio’s army.