The Ways of the World

Recently I wrote to inquire the well being of a friend who is in a deep funk. The reply I got back was a simple ASCII art: ^_______^. This symbol could be a "big smile", a "forced smile", or "crying". I am not sure which one is in effect at this moment. Maybe all three.

In one of the best loved English poems, Ella Wheeler Wilcox's wrote:

Laugh and the world laughs with you.
Weep, and you weep alone:
For this stolid old earth
Has need of your mirth,
It has troubles enough of its own.
Sing, and the hills will echo it:
Sigh, and it's lost on the air;
For they want full measure
Of all your pleasure,
But nobody wants your care.
Feast, and your halls are crowded,
Fast, and they'll pass you by;
Succeed and give,
And they'll let you live,
But fail - and they'll let you die.