By Louie Ferrera

I put a smile on my face and I keep it on all day.

Joy

Keawakapu Beach is a mile long slice of paradise in the little town of Kihei on Maui’s south shore. It was Day #2 of our recent two-week trip to Hawaii and Carol and I were just settling into our Tommy Bahama chairs for a morning of sun, sea and sand. I looked to my right along the surf line and saw what appeared to be a ray of sunshine making its way towards us. As the sunbeam drew closer,  it materialized into an elderly woman decked out in full yellow regalia. Her dress was the color of Vincent’s sunflowers over which she wore a thin long-sleeve lemon yellow shirt. Her wide brimmed hat was pale yellow with a crown of brilliant yellow artificial flowers circling the brim. This unique fashion statement was topped off by a small yellow felt purse decorated with the face of a chicken and worn slung over her shoulder. Her skin was leathery and deeply tanned, a large pair of sunglasses covered her eyes, her face was lit up in a beatific smile. Sunbeams seemed to literally be shooting out from the top of this woman’s head. It was clear to me that Ms. Sunshine could give zero fucks about what people thought of her and that she does what she wants. I was so taken by this woman, she exuded such a blindingly happy glow of positivity and was practically vibrating with love. Ms. Sunshine sauntered past us and on down the beach with a weaving, sashaying dance of a walk. I was left with the type of afterimage one gets from looking directly at the sun.

Two days later, I’m at our same spot on the beach and here comes Ms. Sunshine again. Her outfit was the same one as the other day except she had swapped out the yellow dress for a salmon colored model. This time I stopped her and we struck up a nice conversation. Her name is Joy. She appeared to be in her late 70s-early 80s. She had lived in Berkeley in the 1960s (wow!) and relocated to Maui 15 years ago. Joy loves walking up and down the beach and engaging tourists like myself in conversation. We found common ground in our mutual sunny outlooks on life  and the fact that I’m a twin dad and her father was an identical twin. Our conversation was easy, both of us feeding off of the positive energy we were putting out. After a few minutes we shook hands and she went on her weaving way. I was a little richer and a lot happier from this shooting star-like encounter.

So much fear and negativity permeates our society nowadays, it’s like a millstone around our necks dragging us down. There needs to be like a million more Joys in our world spreading their message of hope and positivity and reminding us that it’s not all shit, that there’s still goodness in the world. Doomsayers like the malignant monster Trump and his followers thrive off of fear and negativity. Like the Death Eaters in the Harry Potter books it makes them stronger. Joy and those with an outlook like hers are the antithesis of the MAGA mindset. They and consequently we, grow stronger by putting love and hope into the world; giving a smile, performing a random act of kindness…whatever. It’s like what Marvin Gaye sings in What’s Going On?, Only love can conquer hate. I believe that Joy is the embodiment of this sentiment, she’s doing it one person at a time. Strolling the beach and making personal connections by way of her radiant outfit and equally radiant personality Joy is bringing people together, perhaps helping someone feel less lonely and reminding everyone she meets not only that there’s love and goodness in the world but also of the love and goodness within themselves. Joy is paying it forward, saying: I give freely, take this from me and pass it on.

I firmly believe there’s a way to find common ground with almost anyone. If more people believed that, perhaps there’d be less suffering and hatred in the world.  Some may see Joy saunter past them with her outlandish outfit and sunny smile and may think she’s just a goofy old lady. Not me! Joy has an important job to do which she appears to take quite seriously: to spread the word of love and the importance of squeezing every bit of living out of every precious day that we’re granted here on Earth. Keep your eye out for the Joys of the world, there are more of them out there than you think.

You can come up with unusual solutions when you’re sitting in the love vibe.

Joy