Ok so I'm in Washington DC last week for a confrence. We have an afternoon off so some friends and I are walking down the Mall headed to the National Art Gallery. All of a sudden this guy steps out in front of us and asks if we're with the confrence. Now this of course got our attention, he then said that he was supposed to give us something. He then pulls out these little "SMILE" stickers with a strange face on them. It's about this time when the shock wore off and i realized that he'd read about the confrence on our name tags, and it was also about that time that he started asking for money.
This would be where I walked off, quickly calling to those of my friends who hadn't yet seen the con that we were late and had to get moving. One of our group was actually sorry or dumb or whatever enough to give him money and in return got a little book that reads like a cult recruitment book. Probably because it was.
So this guy is there all day, on the centerpiece of the United States' culture and history giving people little books saying things like "The Key to Life is a Consant High," "We should all have intercourse all the time" and "Meditation is the Key." Not only is he recruiting for a cult, he's getting money before they join like a begger for his cause.
We had a good laugh over this but the more you think about it the sicker it is. We're that commercialized or whatever.
Anywas I'll just remind everyone: "No Smiling without a permit!!" as he called it.
