There was a movie made in 2000 called Pay It Forward, starring Kevin Spacey and the boy from the Sixth Sense, which made me think the other day. The film was not the most entertaining but had a very strong message within it. Given by the title of the film, its main plot is surrounded by the concept that one act of human kindness will snowball into more acts of human kindness -- pay it forward. It sounds quite simple, but how often do we care to actually do it?
We are living in world today where we create very, very busy lives. We are attached to our BlackBerry's, emails, the internet, and somewhere along the line we lose touch with what it is to be human. This movie made me think about that. I am guilty of being one of those people who check their email 1,000 times a day. And I think its important that we do not lose touch with the important things in life.
Go out of your way to help someone -- it can be big, small, indirect, or direct. Create that one act of human kindness and tell them to pay it forward. It grows at an exponential rate and the outcome is people helping people. And if you do happen to help someone, post how you did so.
Mark, I really like that concept of paying it forward, and the underlying notion of identifying the important things in life and putting them in the forefront.
ReplyDeleteIt reminds me of an anecdote I read somewhere....
A professor had a empty glass jar and filled it to the top with rocks. He asked the class if it was full and they answered 'yes'. He then took a handful of pebbles and poured them in, which filled in all the cracks between the big rocks. He once again asked if it were full, and the class again answered with a resounding yes. He then proceeded to pour sand into the jar, which settled in the crevices between the pebbles. A final time he asked if anything more could fit, and the class said it was too full for anything else. The professor then took his mug of coffee and poured it into the jar, the coffee filling up the microscopic spaces between the sand particles in the jar. He turned to the class and concluded: Don't forget that when you think your jar is too full, you're too busy, and nothing else can fit, there's always room for a coffee.