One good turn deserves another. Karma. The Golden Rule. Pay it forward. All of these concepts are closely related to a straightforward principle: when a person does something good or positive, they put out positive energy into the world that will spread like wildfire. A lot of folks understand the notion of pay it forward by means of the movie and/or book of the same name. But the concept of paying it forward has been around considerably longer.
When you pay it forward, you are passing on a good deed. For instance, if somebody babysits your children cost-free, they may tell you as a substitute of paying them, you could give back to society and “pay it forward” by babysitting someone else’s kids for free. It is all about performing something good and the recipient of that kind act doing something great for somebody else. These kind acts then unfold around the neighbourhood, around the city, around the state…
Some say Christ was the originator of the pay it forward principle. According to the Bible, He confirmed that acts of kindness and unselfishness might resound to huge numbers of people. Christ taught that life is reciprocal in that we acquire what we have given to others. More recently, Benjamin Franklin wrote about the principle in a letter in 1784. In her 1916 book, In the GARDEN of Delight, Lily Hardy Hammond wrote, “You don’t pay love back; you pay it forward.”
Catherine Ryan Hyde wrote the novel Pay It Forward in 2000 and in no way anticipated to be launching a social movement. But that is precisely what happened. In the book and movie, a seventh grade social studies instructor provides his class a project to conjure up a concept that could change the world. One pupil comes up with the notion of pay it forward in which he will perform 3 acts of kindness. The recipients are then told to also perform 3 charitable acts which leads to the movement increasing exponentially.
Schools around the globe have picked up on this idea and employed it to make their students more socially aware. For instance, students at the University of Minnesota began a group named Students Today Leaders Forever. The members of this group devote their springbreaks “giving back” by completing community service projects with the thought that recipients pay it forward. Students at Syracuse University and the University of Toledo embarked on comparable projects. April 29, 2010 was declared International Pay It Forward Day on which people were encouraged to perform good deeds with the expectation of the recipient paying it forward.
“Hug It Forward” is movement that takes the pay it forward concept and applies it to free hugs. It’s so easy to give a hug, yet so powerfull. A hug can very rapidly be paid forward and can spread exponentially so that very soon absolutely everyone in the world has got a hug! On this web site you can now Track Your Hugs on a Google Map so you can see how they spread! What’s more, for each hug you track, Hug It Forward’s sponsors will donate $1 to Bottle School projects in Guatemala!
