I love being around positive people and making people smile.

Hear now the words of the wise, as we turn to the utterance of the athlete JaVale McGee: “I love being around positive people and making people smile.” At first glance, this saying is simple, a passing remark of joy. Yet beneath its surface rests a fountain of truth, a teaching as old as the ancients themselves. For in all ages, mankind has sought the company of those whose spirits are bright, and has long understood that to bring forth smiles upon the faces of others is to scatter seeds of light across the earth.

The ancients knew that the soul is shaped by its companions. Just as iron sharpens iron, so too does the countenance of a positive person lift and strengthen the weary heart. To walk among those who breathe despair is to carry a weight of stone upon the back. But to dwell with the cheerful is as if one walks in a garden of springtime, where every flower bends toward the sun. McGee, though a warrior upon the court of sport, speaks with the wisdom of the philosophers: surround thyself with good, and goodness will flow through thee.

Consider, children of the future, the tale of the philosopher Socrates. When condemned to drink the hemlock, he did not darken his companions with cries of fear, but instead spoke words of comfort, lifting their hearts even as his life waned. In his presence, his friends found strength, and in his smile they glimpsed courage greater than death itself. Thus we see that the power to make others smile is not trivial—it is divine, for it strengthens the spirit more than weapons or armies.

Yet let us not confine this wisdom to the halls of philosophers and athletes alone. Recall also the story of Abraham Lincoln, burdened with the strife of a nation divided by war. Many described him as weary in face, yet still he wielded humor and warmth, often softening the hardest meetings with a tale that drew forth laughter. Even in times of bloodshed and sorrow, he understood the holy force of a smile, which lightens the heaviest chains of human suffering. He was proof that joy can be a form of leadership.

Thus the meaning of McGee’s words shines clearly: to cherish positive people is to guard the gates of one’s soul against the armies of despair, and to make others smile is to pour oil upon the troubled waters of the human heart. It is a way of being that magnifies itself, for the smile given to another returns as a smile to oneself, multiplied in kind. The one who makes others smile is like the sun, giving without thought, and yet never diminished.

And so, O listener, learn this lesson: let thy circle be filled with those who uplift, not those who drag thee down into bitterness. Seek friends whose words are like music and whose deeds bring warmth. Be not deceived by the false grandeur of wealth or rank, for a single positive companion is of greater value than a host of flatterers. Choose wisely the company you keep, for from their spirit your own spirit shall drink.

As for practical deeds: each day, strive to bring forth at least one smile upon the face of another. Whether by kindness of word, by jest, or by small act of care, sow joy into the world. When thou enter a room, let thy presence be as a candle in the dark. When thou meet a stranger, offer a gentle word. When thou see a friend burdened, give them laughter, even if small. In this way, you shall fulfill the ancient law of harmony, and like McGee, you will discover that in making others smile, you weave your own crown of gladness.

Let these words be a torch carried into the future: that the path to greatness lies not only in strength of arm or brilliance of mind, but also in the courage to be positive, and in the humility to make others smile. For this is the labor of the true hero—not conquest of lands, but conquest of sorrow, until every soul is touched by light.