2008 Woodie Awards
Paying if forward
Rachel Nichols, Student Life Editor
Issue date: 12/7/05 Section: Student Life
The release of the red holiday Starbucks cups along with their seasonal flavors of syrup for mochas and lattes. A simple card in the mail from a faraway friend to tell you they miss you. Coming home from a long day and finding that your mom cooked your favorite dinner. Staying up all night with a friend talking about nothing important. Opening up a new CD and finding all the lyrics are printed inside the booklet so you can sing along. When looking back I have found that it's always been the little things in life that have made me the most happy.
I was driving to San Francisco last weekend to visit a friend and began to dig through my purse as I approached the Golden Gate Bridge, trying to find the five dollar bill I stuffed in it before I left to pay for the toll. I pulled up to the man collecting the money as I continued to shuffle through my bottomless bag. "You're good to go," he said. "The car in front of you got you." I looked up with a smile and continued on into the city, and wondered what inclined the car in front of me to perform such a thoughtful act of kindness. It was one of those little things that made my day.
It got me thinking. It wasn't a favor that I could pay back because I didn't know who did it. Then I started thinking about the movie Pay It Forward. In the movie an elementary social studies class is given the assignment to think of something to change the world and put it into action. In the movie the main character comes up with the idea of paying a favor not back, but forward. He decided he would repay good deeds by paying them forward to three other people. Such a simple idea, with great potential of making the world a better place.
I decided that I wanted to start paying my favors forward. It seemed like an especially good idea in the spirit of the holiday season that snuck up on us out of nowhere this year. Not only does an act of kindness make someone else feel good, but there always seems to be something so self-gratifying about making someone else's day. It seems to me that there is no better way to spread holiday cheer and spirit.
I was driving to San Francisco last weekend to visit a friend and began to dig through my purse as I approached the Golden Gate Bridge, trying to find the five dollar bill I stuffed in it before I left to pay for the toll. I pulled up to the man collecting the money as I continued to shuffle through my bottomless bag. "You're good to go," he said. "The car in front of you got you." I looked up with a smile and continued on into the city, and wondered what inclined the car in front of me to perform such a thoughtful act of kindness. It was one of those little things that made my day.
It got me thinking. It wasn't a favor that I could pay back because I didn't know who did it. Then I started thinking about the movie Pay It Forward. In the movie an elementary social studies class is given the assignment to think of something to change the world and put it into action. In the movie the main character comes up with the idea of paying a favor not back, but forward. He decided he would repay good deeds by paying them forward to three other people. Such a simple idea, with great potential of making the world a better place.
I decided that I wanted to start paying my favors forward. It seemed like an especially good idea in the spirit of the holiday season that snuck up on us out of nowhere this year. Not only does an act of kindness make someone else feel good, but there always seems to be something so self-gratifying about making someone else's day. It seems to me that there is no better way to spread holiday cheer and spirit.