Pay It Forward

I happened to find the movie "Pay It Forward" on one of the channels this past weekend and watched it with my wife. I thought it was one of the most inspiring films I've ever seen. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who hasn't seen the movie yet.

The story line goes something like this...

Beginning as a seventh-grade social studies class assignment to put into action an idea that could change the world, young Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) comes up with a plan to do good deeds for three people who then by way of payment each must do good turns for three other people.

These nine people also must pay it forward and so on... if succussful, the resulting network of good-doers ought to comprise the entire world. Trevor's attempts to get the ball rolling include befriending a junkie and trying to set up his recovering-alcoholic mother (Helen Hunt) with his burn-victim teacher (Kevin Spacey), who posed the assignment.

I don't want to spoil it for people who have not seen the movie, so i'll stop here... but I think this is precisely what we all aspire to do - to change the world for the better.

Here's the trailer of the movie...

This morning, I was listening to one of my mentors who told me this...

"Do something positive today for someone in the knowing that there's no way they can ever repay you. The world will be a better place because of it."

His instruction wasn't precisely to "pay it forward" but it kind of touches the gist of the concept.

One of the quotes from the movie by Haley Joel Osment (Trevor) that stuck in my mind was this:

"I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses."

Enjoy the movie!!