Saturday, December 09, 2006

Pay It Forward


This is really getting to be fun. My Movie/TV star niece Lindy Newton and her roommate are spreading the Christmas spirit in Los Angeles. They are about to blow a struggling single mom away with another random act of kindness.

You can read about what they are up to and how you can help by CLICKING HERE.

Or maybe their act of kindness will spur you to pay it forward with other folks.

Trevor, the 12-year-old hero of “Pay It Forward,” thought of quite an idea. He described it to his mother and teacher this way: "You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven." He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. "Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?"

I am hearing from a lot of folks. Please keep posting your stories to this site. If you don't want to do that send me an email. Your stories of acts of kindness are inspiring people all across the country.

If someone does something kind for you, you now have an obligation. Instead of trying to pay it back - you pay it forward to three people.

And make sure each of those three pay it forward to three more people each.

Let's step it up.

Pay it forward.

We have only 14 days til Christmas.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

My wife, young son and I paid it forward last Saturday. When attending a Christmas party at my son's school my wife asked a small hispanic classmate what he was getting for Christmas. Upon hearing her he just put his head down and looked away. Thinking he didn't understand her she asked again. He continued to look away. Another parent informed my wife that they had limited means and probably would not be any toys under his tree. That did it. Immediately my wife started making plans for him. She called the house and found out there were three other kids. The third grader was the interpretor and upon hearing what she was going to do she heard the mother say in broken English "for us"? Saturday with tear filled eyes we delivered those gifts. The children were home with a baby sitter while the parents worked. As we pulled up they gathered around the car with much excitement. Even at a young age they were very appreciative and each thanked us for coming over. Little did they know we had our Christmas that day too. It was far better than the gifts we received. It was the gift of true joy in giving.