Pay It Forward...

I’m a big believer in two very important subject matters. The first being the importance with its consequence of ‘how we treat each other’.

The second on the possible magnitude of ‘paying it forward’ I’ve always believed in these two concerns and feel determined as an individual to do all I can to educate where possible. My thoughts and feelings are that this will make the difference to our world by all of us helping to make the world a better place. Let me start with ‘paying it forward’ the writer Catherine Ryan Hyde in 2000 wrote a wonderful book called ‘pay it forward.’ Sometime later it was released as a film because nestled within the books pages a message came across as sincere and significant.

The story behind the title is centred on a 12yr old boy called Trevor who’s given a project from his teacher. His task is to come up with a plan that will change the world through direct action. It’s on his way home that Trevor comes across a homeless individual called Jerry. Trevor decides he’s going to make a difference to Jerry’s life by getting him on his feet.

His plan progresses with him knowing he will do good things for three people. In his pyramid of charitable schemes, the three people must each in turn do good things for three other people. What appears to initially be a failure is indeed a success. It’s not immediately known but is traced backwards by a reporter who’s the benefactor. The initial recipients of Trevor are a drug addict, his badly scarred school teacher, and a classmate who’s constantly bullied by his peers. The film received mixed reviews but I remember feeling this could well have been written by my own hand as I identified with all that Catherine said.

As a believer in paying it forward, I’ve reported in the past our actions, thoughts words and deeds impact somewhere, somehow with someone... As thoughtful beings, and depending on what we are trying to achieve we can make that as good or as bad as we want. There are times when we can do something anonymously and simply sink into the warmth of knowing we did well, and of course there are the times we do things just out of the goodness of our hearts for family, friends and strangers. The other part to this is sometimes we do things and we never get to see what we payed forward but... I always like to bask in the knowledge, occasionally others are not aware of the good we’ve done but I have witnessed countless others on the receiving end and let me say it’s always been a joy to observe.

Whatever you do to help others remember, payback is a thousand times more than you’ll ever think possible... below is a personal favourite part of the film. I hope you have time to Watch & Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tGcwG-2owow

A quick mention on the first part of this article, ‘How we treat others’ I’ve just read one of my favourite mediums Lisa Williams's blog. Today she talks about what we put out to people. Lisa shares my own belief that how we treat others is so very often how we ourselves get treated. I totally agree. Remember... ‘Treat others how you would like to be treated yourself’

I’ve inserted Lisa's blog for those interested in further reading her article....

http://www.lisawilliamsmedium.com/welcome-to-my-world/2010/9/11/dont-force-life-live-it.html

Till next time Mwah x