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WHAT IS “PAY IT FORWARD”? “Pay
It Forward” is a book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde, but it's also an idea. It's an action plan within a work of fiction.
But does it have to be fiction? We're hoping not. In fact, since the book was released in January of 2000, a real-life social
movement has emerged, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. What began as a work of fiction has already become much more. Reuben St. Clair, the teacher and protagonist in the book “Pay It Forward,”
starts a movement with this voluntary, extra-credit assignment: THINK OF AN IDEA FOR WORLD CHANGE, AND PUT IT INTO ACTION.
Trevor, the 12-year-old hero of “Pay It Forward,” thinks of quite an idea. He describes it to his mother and teacher
this way: "You see, I do something real good for three people. And then when they ask how they can pay it back, I say
they have to Pay It Forward. To three more people. Each. So nine people get helped. Then those people have to do twenty-seven."
He turned on the calculator, punched in a few numbers. "Then it sort of spreads out, see. To eighty-one. Then two hundred
forty-three. Then seven hundred twenty-nine. Then two thousand, one hundred eighty-seven. See how big it gets?" For
more information visit the Pay It Forward Foundation at www.payitforwardfoundation.org
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Have you ever had someone do something for you and you never had a chance to Pay Them Back?
Have you been
blessed in many ways and have had the desire to bless others?
Here is your chance to help hundreds without getting
anything back......
- Pay It Forward!
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The Movements Founder
Catherine Ryan Hyde published
Pay It Forward several years ago, watched as her book was made into a movie by the same title in 2000, and has since established
a charitable foundation that promotes the basic principles espoused in her novel.
But her own Pay It Forward experience
occurred almost 24 years ago. Ryan Hyde was living in Los Angeles in a "tough" neighbourhood, and late one night her car stalled
on a ramp leading off from a freeway. Before she knew it, her car was filled with smoke and the engine was on fire.
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She
then observed two men running toward her with a blanket. They quickly popped the car's hood and did what they could to extinguish
the flames. At the same time, a fire truck appeared on the scene. It all happened so fast that Ryan Hyde was unable to thank
the two men, who disappeared into the night.
To this day she doesn't who they were. But at that same moment the
Pay It Forward concept started to develop in her mind as Ryan Hyde realized she owed a huge debt of gratitude to someone.
"It seemed like too much to do for a total stranger," she told Rotarians. "I was later told that we could have
been killed. These two gentlemen probably saved my life, and they risked their own lives. And I don't even know who they are."
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'Making a contribution
to the lives of other people may help extend our own lives,' said University of Michigan psychologist and lead author Stephanie
Brown
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