By MARSHA MERCER
It’s not just a bumper strip slogan. Some Americans actually
do practice random acts of kindness.
At fast food restaurants around the country, some customers
are paying for the orders placed by strangers in the next car.
“Drive-through generosity is happening across America and
parts of Canada, sometimes resulting in unbroken chains of hundreds of cars
paying in turn for the person behind them,” Kate Murphy reported last month in
The New York Times.
“We really don’t know why it’s happening but if I had to
guess, I’d say there is just a lot of stuff going on in the country that people
find discouraging,” Mark Moraitakis, director of hospitality at Chick-fil-A,
told Murphy, adding, “Paying it forward is a way to counteract that.”
“Pay it forward” refers to repaying a kindness by doing
something kind for another person. The
concept was popularized by a 1999 novel by Catherine Hyde Ryan and movie
starring Kevin Spacey and Helen Hunt. A high school teacher challenges his
students to change the world. One boy helps three people and asks each of them
to help three more people…You see where this is going.
Moraitakis is onto something. People like helping others – on their own
terms. Compulsory kindness doesn’t cut it.
You don’t see many people paying it forward in Washington, a
city famous for pay backs. But when legendary comedian Carol Burnett came to
town last month to receive the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, she showed
how it’s done.
Burnett asked that Rosemary Watson, a comedic newcomer who
does dead-on impersonations of Hillary Clinton and other prominent female
politicians, be given the chance to perform at the Kennedy Center awards gala. The two had never met. Watson had written
Burnett a fan letter, and Burnett had watched Watson’s videos on YouTube.
Impressed, she wanted to give a boost to the younger woman’s career.
“The thing is, you pay it forward,” Burnett said.”Because
when I got started, somebody gave me a break when I was 21 years old, and I
wanted to go to New York.”
Paying it forward can be as simple as letting someone go
ahead in line at the grocery store. Many people pay it forward with their time.
It turns out there are special benefits for people who volunteer.
The December issue of Oprah Winfrey’s O Magazine touts “Four
Amazing Health Benefits of Helping Others.”
Studies show that volunteers may live longer, be happier, manage their
pain better and lower their blood pressure more than non-volunteers.
Many people prefer to pay it forward with cash. Individual
charitable giving rose almost 4 percent last year but still lags its
pre-recession peak. This is one area where young people are a shining example.
Nine of 10 kids between the ages of 8 and 19 give to
charity, according to a recent study by the Women’s Philanthropic Institute at
Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Parents, take note: Moms and dads who talk to their children
about giving to charity significantly increase the likelihood that the children
will give. Talking may be more influential than parental role-modeling of charitable
giving, the report says.
We all have a chance to pay it forward on Giving Tuesday -- the
Tuesday after Thanksgiving. It’s a day to give back at the start of the holiday
season, after our two biggest days of getting, Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Giving Tuesday was created last year by Henry Timms of the
92nd Street Y, a cultural and community nonprofit center in New York
City. He’s the son of one of my closest
friends, but I’d be writing about this brilliant project anyway.
In its first year, Giving Tuesday raised $10 million for more
than 2,500 nonprofit groups. More groups are participating this year. Giving
Tuesday doesn’t collect the money. Its genius is that it encourages each person
to choose a favorite charity and publicize the choice on social media.
If you’re interested in paying it forward, join the movement.
It might make you feel as good as those you help.
©2013 Marsha Mercer. All rights reserved.
No comments:
Post a Comment