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Hi my name is Bree,
I am 20-years-old and I live in Australia. This morning I was watching
a popular morning talk show which is currently running stories from
last year. When a story on Friendship Day was played and I saw Catherine
Ryan Hyde was an ambassador I was immmediately interested as I had
recently seen the movie "Pay It Forward" and remembered
her name from the credits. The movie touched me in a way that few
movies these days are capable of. Not because of the outstanding acting
or excellent direction but because of the fascinating concept of paying
it forward. More importantly it opened my eyes and awakened a sense
of pride as I feel it is a great thing to do a favor for someone and
expect nothing in return but that they may one day do the same thing.
Although I do not make it a regular part of my day to go out of my
way in order to help someone else, when I am confronted with the option
to help someone or walk away, ten times out of ten I do my best to
make that persons day a little better by showing them that kindness
does still exist. In a world where war is an everyday issue, disease
is something we are forced to deal with and the question of what is
happening to our once beautiful world is what so many people are asking
themselved every day, it is heart warming and encouraging to read
that some people do still believe in the old fashioned value of helping
others purely to assist someone who may be less fortunate, down on
their luck or just in need of a reassuring gesture to demonstrate
that this world is not as cold and harsh as it sometimes seems. It
is my wildest dream that the concept of paying a favor forward instead
of paying it back would take over the world and results in a cascading
flood of people helping their fellow human beings. This may never
come true but I believe that if just one of the people I help does
the same for another person then it has made a difference to the world.
I do not have a lot of money, I am not extremely gifted or intelligent,
I don't now how to make things better for everyone but if I can help
anyone in some small way, whether that be opening a door for a lady
who has her hands full with shopping, directing a lost tourist, informing
an elderly man as to when the next bus will arrive or even just saying
"thank-you" and smiling at a sales assistant who appears
to have had a bad day, I know that my small favors somehow, somewhere
make a difference, and that's enough for me. Don't pay it back - pay
it forward. The world wont change, but you can. |
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