Ever since the movie Pay it Forward with Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt and Kevin Spacey, if we had not thought of paying it forward to make the world a better place, most of us do try, even if only in a small way.
Today by posting something on Twitter or Facebook you can always find some like-minded person to follow your cause. For newbies, because I have some friends that do not totally understand the navigation of Facebook, you can look on the left hand side of your main page, under the column that says News Feed and you will see Events. If you go to that page,you will see birthdays and any Event that someone has posted. It allows you to click on it and say you are Going or Join, Not Going or even Maybe.
One such upcoming event is Pay It Forward Weekend 2015. It is the third annual, though I had not heard of the event before. People are asked to do at least one random act of kindness – or more on this weekend.
Suggestions are that you pay for a stranger’s meal – someone actually did that for me once at a drive through – when I got to the window the employee said no charge. I said, What? and they told me the previous patron had paid for my meal. Wow, that makes your day. I didn’t even know who was in front of me.
The list is endless of what you can do for someone – even small things count, and what is so wonderful is that most of them do not cost you anything, or very little.
My mind has been racing trying to think of some things I might do in my neighborhood or at work. Put someone’s garbage can back after garbage pick-up; pick up papers or debris that has blown into someone’s yard; help someone reach something if you are a tall person; we see people often trying to climb on a shelf in the stores to get an item; shovel someone’s driveway; offer someone a ride; put some money in an envelope with a note for whatever you know that person needs, and say something like for your gas; offer to run an errand for someone who is overwhelmed with too much to do; write a letter to the manager or CEO about an employee who has done a great job; pick up someone’s child for them; make a meal for someone who is sick or alone; leave an uplifting card on someones door; write a thank you note to someone who helps others on a regular basis; invite and treat someone who doesn’t get out much to a movie; offer to pick up groceries for a shut in or someone who doesn’t have a car; uplift someone with kind words. The list is endless.
In 2014 484,743 people accepted the invitation to do a random act of kindness. Because of the event posted, 6,191,963 people saw this event. This was only Facebook – there is no telling how many people told other people who participated and are not even on Facebook.
With the holidays behind us and us being consumed with all that takes place in the new year, what a wonderful event to help us start it off the right way.
I have often been told that you cannot out-give God. I also BELIEVE that this event is for you as much as it is for whomever you do the random act for.
People make a place. That is one of the reasons that many of us live in the White Mountains. We are continually amazed at the outpouring of giving that our community displays whenever there is a need.
I invite you to participate in the Pay It Forward Weekend Jan. 16 – 18. And, if you like, I would love to hear from you about some of the creative ways you come up with to do one or more of those random acts. Post what you have done, or what someone has done for you, on our Facebook Page at WMIcentral.com.
I BELIEVE that The mountain will embrace this third annual event with gusto. PAY IT FORWARD, WHITE MOUNTAINS and watch your own life change.
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