Why do we smile in pictures? Is it to trick ourselves into thinking that we enjoyed that moment in time? I am of course referring to the smiles we put on for the picture, not the spur of the moment snapshot of a legitimately happy friend.
The fake smiles are sometimes, in my opinion, more real than the actual smile because they convey our desire for happiness or a positive reaction to life: The fake it till you make it thing. Is honesty truly the best policy? Who am I to deny the dying old woman a picture of her smiling broken family? If she can't remember her father beating her and her sisters, is it wrong to believe that those were happy times? Perhaps the fake smiles actually end up being legitimized in the future by happy reactions to them; a prophecy of sorts. Even if I don't enjoy this now, I will, and that is what I am smiling about, not about now, but about a happy future.
