What does it cost to Smile?

I recently returned home from a trip across the country and while I was on the last leg of my flight to San Francisco I wrote this:

I am on the last leg of a trip that feels like I have been traveling for days. Two planes, six hours in the air and plenty of time staring at people in the airports.
One thing I have noticed in all this is that it seems that people have forgotten to smile. Are they upset that we no longer get food on flights? Are they just depressed?
On this last leg of my journey from Chicago to San Francisco I am counting myself lucky that the flight attendant is extremely pleasant and accommodating. Why is this the exception and not the rule?
It seems that most people have forgotten what it is to be courteous, pleasant and polite. Maybe it's all this technology and texting that has removed us from actual human contact that we have forgotten how to be, well human? :(
Cyborgs walking through life avoiding eye contact, looking at the ground scowling. That unfortunately seems to be the norm now a days.
It's days like this that I try to smile even more, be extra polite, go the extra mile. To some I might be a bit off. (No comment from those who know me personally) But when someone actually smiles back I consider it a small victory for the happy people.
Try it, smile at a stranger. It might get contagious!

I would like to that the crew of Southwest Air's flight #1641 from Chicago to San Francisco last Saturday July 25 for making my flight a very pleasant one.