April 2008

PAY IT FORWARD

Have you ever helped someone in need and have them ask How can I repay you? You could respond by asking them to help someone else in need or pay it forward.

The Pay It Forward concept, doing unselfish acts of kindness, a service for someone, and asking the recipient to pay the kindness forward instead of paying it back, is a powerful idea. The simple lesson that one person can make a difference and the difference is multiplied exponentially.

In the often referenced words of President John F. Kennedy Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country. Ask what we can do for a stranger or a neighbor in need. You may never know the impact that a small gesture will have on someone. A smile for a lonely senior citizen may make their day. Something as simple as holding a door open for the person behind you might start a domino type chain reaction of other people helping others.  Consider making an action to spread good will.

The concept of Pay It Forward was described by Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Benjamin Webb dated April 22, 1784: I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro' many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.