What about the phrase Pay It Forward?
While these terms get bandied about, we thought that this might be a good point to stop, review the book that they came from, and chat about how this can affect us at Christmas time this year...and years to come.
A quick summary of the book: Trevor is 12yrs old, and has been challenged by his Social Studies teacher to come up with an extra credit assignment based on the notion of thinking locally and acting globally.
What a precocious 12yr old, you may be thinking?
However, the idea is deceptively simple; Trevor will help 3 people, and then those 3 people will help another 3 people...so on and so on until the whole world is helped.
However, as with all good stories, nothing goes to plan. The first 2 people Trevor helps end up in jail or dead. Trevor become disillusioned and gives up on his plan, unaware that he has already set the wheels in motion and people are paying it forward. Before Trevor knows it, his little extra credit assignment has become a nationwide phenomenen and is spreading worldwide.
Let me be real: this book deals with some real gritty stuff, and can also veer off into sentimentality at times, but is a great book to read..and one that will sit with you for longer than it took to read.
So why this book, now?
Being the Christmas (or silly, or hectic, or stressful, or painful) Season, it is a good time to remember the principals behind the concept of Pay It Forward. This isn't about Random Acts Of Kindness - another popular yet different motto and ideal - but about the idea that if someone does you a favour, then you need to do one for someone else.
So how can we Pay It Forward this christmas?
Here are some easy and free ideas to try out this Christmas season.
You may say I'm too busy.
You may say I don't have any money to donate.
You may say 'well, who is going to help me'?
I say - try them out and see if they make a difference this Christmas.
So:
--At the shops, smile at the shop assistants, and say thankyou. They are just as busy and as stressed as you, and they have to deal with lots of stressed and impatient customers
--Give your unwanted/uneeded christmas presents to a charity to deliver on christmas day. The Salvation Army is local, and will dliver chirstmas hampers to those families in need.
--The carparks in the shops are busy. Let someone go in front of you, and wave to them. you don't have to be a pushover and let everyone in, but go ahead and brighten someones day. It will lift their mood...and you maybe surprised how it lifts yours.
--Forgive a driver directing road rage at you - gosh this is a hard one, but an important one. The anger can build up in us, and come out at our loved ones who don't deserve it.
--Compliment a stranger. This could be the decorations in a shop, someone's crazy hairstyle or even a busker. There are plenty of strangers in the world - go out and get them!
--Next time you’re at the airport, offer to pull the bags out of the conveyor belt for someone who looks like they need help.
We'll leave you with a Haiku poem about the book that summarises the whole concept rather nealty:
Debts to be repaid;
The world is changed by one boy.
Pipe Dream? I hope not.
