Pay it Forward

It seems kind of sad to me that when most people think of  Haley Joel Osment they really only remember this young kid saying "I see dead people" Don't get me wrong. The Sixth Sense was a great movie that I enjoyed very much. The twist at the end even kind of surprised me.

But that actor played another role just a year later that was much more impactful and inspiring. This second movie only did a fraction as well even though it had a much more more powerful message. In Pay It Forward, Haley Joel Osment plays Trevor McKinney, a young middle school student. His teacher, played by Kevin Spacey, challenges his class to come up with and put into action a plan that will change the world for the better.

His classmates each come up with their own ideas, donating money to charities and starting food drives and things like that but nothing out of the ordinary. It seems like it might be an impossible task. After all if you were eleven years old and your teacher asked you to change the world, what would you do or say?

Unlike his classmates, Trevor actually comes up with something that has has the potential to change the world. He puts the plan in motion and throughout the duration of the movie, in just a few short days, the lives of hundreds if not thousands of individuals, living in his hometown of Las Vegas, are made better by his idea. The film does not go on for long enough to determine if "world" change occurs but he certainly does make an impact on his community.

What was this idea? He called it "paying it forward". Trevor decides to do a favor for three people. Instead of letting them pay him back, he then asks each of them to "pay the favor forward" by doing favors for three other people. Each of those people is then asked to do the same until it creates an ever expanding tree of good deeds.The one other rule is that the favor must be something that the receiver of the favor can not do for themselves.

Can you see how truly powerful that idea is? The way our world typically runs is every man for himself. People are often only willing to do things for other people for either an immediate reward or immediate payback of whatever favor they do. Often, people in need never get any help because they can not do anything for the person offering them the assistance.

But, just about everyone knows at least three people that there is some way they could help out if only someone could help them out of their own rut. Imagine how different things would be if every time someone did a favor for anyone that person paid it forward, to someone else truly in need. I spent a lot of time thinking and wasn't able to come up with a better way of changing the world. Whenever possible, I don't let others pay me back when I do something for them. I tell them to pay it forward.

 What would you have done if you had been in Trevor's class? Do you have an idea that will change the world. And if so what stops you from implementing it?