Story #1 – Shoes
My wife works with school age children at a daycare – some of which are low- income. She’d noticed that one child had been wearing a pair of shoes that his parents had cut the front open so his toes would stick through, because the shoes were too small. My wife went, during her lunch break, and purchased a new, inexpensive pair of shoes for him and his brother during her lunch break. The child was so thankful… he did not want to play outside because he didn’t want to mess up his new shoes.Story #2 – Showers
My niece is a teenager who has had a rough couple of years – she’s now a pregnant, high school dropout, with no job. She doesn’t seem to have a bright future – and it’s probably, really going to be a struggle for her and her baby. She doesn’t have much ready for her baby, who’s coming in just a few short months now. We are going to have a baby shower for her in a few weeks – it won’t be extravagant, but I’m sure her and her baby will really appreciate it.Story #3 – Storms
This is one my boss told me. It was one of those really nasty nights – where the sky turned black at 5:00 pm, the wind was blowing, and the tornado sirens were going off. She was on her way home, but had to stop for gas. When she pulled up to the pump, the station was closed – but the pumps were still on for credit card use. As she was filling up, a young teenage boy pulled up to the pump and noticed the station was closed and started sniffling a bit and had a few tears. He was out of gas and all he had was a few bucks in cash. Of course, my boss filled up his tank with her credit card and told him not to worry about… just do it for someone else sometime.Why the movie got it wrong
In the movie, you were supposed to do one big favor for 3 people… it had to be something really big, that they couldn’t do on their own. I’ve always tried to think of something like that, that I could do for somebody else – but nothing was ever big enough. But, I just realized that the movie is wrong – because it doesn’t have to be really big… just, pay it forward.How I got it wrong
Over the last few months I’ve been trying to think of some big way to change the world. How can I help all the people that don’t have it as good as I do? The truth is, you can’t. I heard Tom Becka, a local radio talk show host, mention something on his show the other day that really made a lot of sense to me…Both parts of that are equally important. Some things can’t be done… you can’t change the world. But, there are some things that you can do… you can change an individual’s mood, day, or life. The trick is, you have to be on the lookout for those opportunities.
There are some things that I can change, and some things that I can’t.
Conclusion
For the last few months I’ve been somewhat sad about the world. I didn’t know how to help or what to do – and whatever I did, didn’t seem like it had much of an impact. However, this epiphany I’ve had over the last few days has really brightened my perspective. I really think that this is a way to live… looking for these small opportunities to pay it forward.…and maybe the movie didn’t get it wrong, I just wasn’t paying close enough attention – sometimes, the simplest idea can make the biggest difference.