Pay it Forward!

This post is inspired by a movie I watched on the weekend called Pay it Forward. Released in 2000, this movie starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt, and Haley Joel Osment, is about a 12 year old boy attempting to make the world a better place. The idea being, help 3 needy people, in turn they help 3 others and so on. Instead of returning the favor to the benefactor, the beneficiary pays the favor forward. It is a beautiful heart-warming idea set to change the world based on the principle of goodwill and faith.

What a revolutionary idea, don’t you think? I read somewhere that Benjamin Franklin first spoke of this concept, but I believe it has been conceptualized by Catherine Ryan Hyde in her novel Pay It Forward. The idea has been embraced by many students in schools and colleges across the world; it even has an active foundation set up. To get more info about the foundation click here. Or you could read The 365 Ways Blog about similar movements.  

It’s simple – we just twist the golden rule (ethic of reciprocity) to “Do unto others as you would have others do unto others.” If I should fall back on my cultural learnings of Dharma and Karma from the Bhagavad Gita, then it’s all about righteous duties, cause and effect, and selfless desires.  

Now I’m not suggesting that we stop living our crazy self-indulged lives and start remedying the world. I have to practice what I preach. And I know that work-related stress, lack of sleep, and personal problems often leave us in nasty moods. But every now and then, we could be nice? If we are fortunate enough (that we were helped) to pay a favor forward, well and good, if not, lets kick off the kind deed. As the day progresses, the favor goes around, and who knows, it could make a full circle back to you?

Step on it guys, pay it forward!