Are You Big Enough to Pay it Forward?

"You don't pay back a favor, you pay it forward."

It's easy to be ground down by all the gridlock in Washington politics, become saturated with uneasiness by the continuing recession, and feel the world is pointed the wrong way when holiday drivers cut you off in traffic.

That's why the book "Pay it Forward," by Catherine Ryan Hyde, is required reading for the hard headed optimist in all of us. It recharges our faith in humankind. It's like feeling the effects of an aspirin kick in when you have a headache. The more you read it the better you feel.

In a nutshell, Trevor McKinney, an 7th grade student, accepts his teachers challenge to do something to change the world. Trevor devices a plan to help three people, and instead of them repaying him for his help, he tells them to "pay it forward" by helping 3 other people. Trevor dives into his homework with youthful fervor, but each of the 3 people that he helps appear to drop the ball, and Trevor is convinced that his project is a failure.

However, unbeknown to Trevor, the other people did follow through and the good deeds that they passed along were changing the fabric of society.

Pay It Forward Anyway

In one of my favorite scenes, Jerry, a drug addict that Trevor gave some money to so the could get shoes for a job, tries to save a young women from suicide. Jerry says:

I'm a junkie, Charlotte. I'm always gonna be a junkie. I ain't never gonna be no fine, upstanding citizen. But then I thought, hell. Just pay it forward anyway. Kid tried to help me. Okay, it didn't work. Still, I'm trying to help you. Maybe you'll jump. I don't know. But I tried, right? But let me tell you one thing. I woke up one morning and somebody gave me a chance. Just outta nowhere. It was like a miracle. Now, how do you know that won't happen to you tomorrow?

 Is it really possible to help people like that?

Yes, but perhaps not always in such a dramatic way.

In my opinion, as we carve out our niche in life, writing our book, giving speeches, and coming in contact with people in various ways to share our knowledge with them, we too are "paying it forward."

Are You Big Enough ?

At one point in the book, Trevor points out to his teacher, Reuben, that Trevor's own mom needs help. She needed Reuben's forgiveness because she had betrayed him.

Reuben responds, "I'm sorry, Trevor, I'm not sure I'm a big enough man to do something like that." 

But it turns out that he was a big enough man, and he did forgive her.

Sometimes, like Reuben, we underestimate what we are capable of. But, when we follow through, like Jerry, and do what we know that we have to do, miracles do happen.

See also:

3 Reason Why You Become a Giant When Write Your Book

Carve Out Your Niche & Build a Stairway to Heaven

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