I like to smile. I try to bring happiness on and off the pitch. I

Hear the words of Santi Cazorla, the joyful warrior of the pitch, who declared: “I like to smile. I try to bring happiness on and off the pitch. I don’t understand how you can play football without joy.” Though spoken in the language of sport, his words are a hymn to life itself. For he reveals the eternal truth: that labor without joy becomes a prison, while labor infused with delight becomes a song.

To smile in the midst of contest is no small thing. Many warriors tighten their jaws, furrow their brows, and meet struggle with grimness. Yet Cazorla, though tested by injury and hardship, chose to carry the smile as his banner. This was not a mask to hide weakness, but a weapon of resilience. For the one who smiles in the storm disarms despair, and the one who brings happiness into battle lifts not only himself, but all those who fight beside him.

The ancients too knew this secret. The Stoics taught that it is not circumstances that determine a man’s spirit, but the spirit that interprets circumstance. Epictetus, once a slave, declared that freedom begins within. Likewise, Cazorla teaches us that even in the intensity of football, even amidst roaring crowds and crushing tackles, the essence of play is not grim duty but joy. Without joy, the game is hollow; with joy, it becomes art.

Consider also the story of Pelé, the great king of Brazilian football. In his youth, he played barefoot with a ball of rags, yet he played with laughter, with freedom, with lightness. That joy carried him into stadiums filled with thousands, where his every touch became poetry. The world remembers not only his goals, but the radiance of his smile, for it embodied the spirit of the game itself. In the same way, Cazorla’s philosophy reminds us that sport—and indeed, life—loses its meaning when stripped of happiness.

But Cazorla’s words reach beyond the field. They speak to all who labor in daily tasks. How many toil with heavy hearts, forgetting to smile, forgetting to let happiness breathe into their work? The farmer who sings as he sows, the mother who laughs as she labors, the craftsman who delights in his art—these embody the same truth: that joy transforms necessity into fulfillment, and struggle into triumph.

Let us then take this teaching into our own days. When you work, do not let your face be darkened by endless strain. Find the reason to smile, however small. When you labor among others, remember that your happiness is not yours alone—it is a gift that lifts them as well. To approach any task without joy is to drain it of life, but to approach it with joy is to sanctify it, to turn it into something greater than duty.

Therefore, O seeker, be as Cazorla on and off the pitch. Carry your smile as a shield, your happiness as a sword, and let your joy be the ground upon which you play the game of life. For in the end, victories will fade, trophies will tarnish, but the joy you shared will live on in the hearts of all who walked beside you.

Thus his words echo as the wisdom of the ancients: do not live without joy. Whatever your game, whatever your struggle, play it with a smile. For only then will your life be not merely endured, but celebrated as a work of art.