Originally Posted by june6995

I like the idea of Random acts of Kindness, as Oprah often calls it.

I go to ALDI grocery store where we need to put 25C in to get the cart for shopping. When I come out of the store, I always look for someone to give my cart on to and refuse their quarter. I suggest that they pass on a random act of kindness and give the cart to someone else - without accepting a quarter for it.

In over 5 years of doing this, I have yet to have someone return the act of kindness, so I am assuming quarters are hard to part with. But it makes me feel good, just as much as donating a quilt to a charity.

Kindness never hurts us! We are blessed!
June

Originally Posted by seamstome

Wow, what a story! Isnt it odd how a small thing that you do can make such a difference in someone's life.

I had something similar happen to me. When I was young, I lived on the wrong side of the tracks, we were on food stamps. I ran with a pretty nasty crowd...I was the only one not to be PG before we got out of HS and one of my friends became a hooker with the motorcycle gang The Outlaws.

I was in 7th grade when a teacher pulled me aside and told me that I was the smartest kid in the class and that I could go to college to become a doctor IF I wanted but I would have to quit running with the crowd I was running with. I went home and told my mother that I was going to college to become a Doctor. She told me "I cant even feed you what makes you think I can pay for college. Get that stupid idea out of your head and tell that batty teacher to mind her own business." (Dont think badly of my mother she was just relating her experience.)

Well I thought about what that teacher said late into the night. I know my mother meant well that I shouldnt get my hopes up and I should look at the reality of the situation. My mother was one of twelve and the only one to graduate from HS. NOBODY on my mother's side or in my father's family had ever even attended college no matter received an advanced degree.

Fifteen years later, when I graduated from chiropractic school with my Doctorate, my mother cried and said, You said you were going to do this when you were just a kid. I cant believe you could make it happen by sheer willpower but you did.

Three of my four brothers and sisters have college degrees.

I still volunteer for programming to provide educational resources to disadvantaged women. I will pay this back until the day I die because that one woman took fifteen minutes to talk to some lost kid and that changed my life forever.

Originally Posted by ktbb

I never heard the phrase before I saw a movie a few years ago about a young boy who would help people out or do things for them then, instead of having them pay him back, he'd ask them to "pay it forward" to someone else. There is actually an informal organization of people in our society who encourage this through bumper stickers, etc....random acts of kindness, I think is the phrase they use..It's all about doing things for other without expecting thanks or a good deed in return...you just want to encourage folks to "pay it forward" by doing something good for someone else.

Originally Posted by crashnquilt

I am a firm believer in PAY IT FORWARD and WHAT GOES AROUND COMES AROUND.

It was raining very hard one day. I saw a woman and child walking down the road. I stopped and asked if she needed a ride. She got in with her daughter and was told she was going to the Woman's shelter. She really did look worse for the wear and the daughter wasn't much better.

When we arrived, I could almost hear her relief. Before she got out I gave her $100 bill. She asked me for my name so she could pay me back. I said, "No, just don't let this be in vain. If ever you find someone else that needs help, please, do what you can." The woman smiled and said "Pay it forward"

Just a week ago, I stopped at the bank to make a deposit. (yahoo) I put my deposit in the canister and sent it on it's way. The canister came back with a two photos. One was the woman and her daughter taken about the time I had picked them up. The other was a photo of them today! I looked back at the bank and there she was waving wildly at me.

I went into the bank, she came running out, gave me a huge hug while she was crying. She said to another girl, "THIS IS THE LADY I WAS TELLING YOU ABOUT!" She told me that day was a turning point for her. She said, "If someone thinks enough of me to give me this money, I'm not such a bad person afterall."

She got her GED, got a BS in Business, and is buying a small home for she and her daughter. Her daughter is doing very well in school and every night she prays "Bless the lady that has the white car." Needless to say, THAT has truly MADE MY YEAR!

For PAY IT FORWARD, she volunteers at the Woman's Shelter and helps other women get education and work to better themselves. BUT, she is still a single mother and loves it.