posted September 02, 2012 08:29 AM            

Paying it forward doesn't have to mean giving a large some of money or expending a lot of effort. It could be as simple as holding the door for someone laden with bags or giving up your place in line to someone who appears in a rush. It could even mean spending a little cash on coffee for the person behind you in line at a coffee house. For those who have money they can afford to give, there are always people in need, but even the smallest, free gestures can make a difference.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-does-pay-it-forward-mean.htm

A wonderful site to visit and read inspirational stories or to share one is Random Acts of Kindness
http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/

posted September 02, 2012 10:28 AM            

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Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.

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posted September 02, 2012 10:57 AM            

I had a bit of an argument with my mother a while back. Some neighbors of my 90 year old grandpa put together a birthday party for him, in consideration of all of his family were traveling 1200 miles...

posted September 02, 2012 11:06 AM            

Opening a door for someone, picking up and returning something unknowningly dropped or just smiling.

Big or small, it is the grand gesture of one human to another.

Indeed Charmaine and terri

posted September 02, 2012 02:06 PM            

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Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.

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posted September 02, 2012 02:16 PM            

Submitted by: Patti L
From: PA
On: 7/19/2011 9:00:46 PM

As we all go along in life, day to day, with issues, and mine I thought many. A son who is/was an addict, living at home, drinking, wrecking one vehicle after another and as a mother, his life effecting mine. Working 40+ hrs a week, my husband part time/seasonal life is good, but demanding. We get by and pay the bills. I have not seen a vacation in many many yrs. But its life, its ok, and we get by. We are able to pay the bills and eat, for this I am grateful.
Last week after a long day of work, I had to get groceries. I proceeded to grab a cart and get busy, gathering and figureing the weeks food and pay. I had quite a bit in my buggy, and got in line. There was only one check out open and only one in front of me. As the lady in front of me checked out I as everyone does,just reflected, and looked at the candy bars, gums, mints to my side. An older gentleman came up behind me with 2 loafs of bread. I said oh please go ahead of me..he smiled, said thank you, and did. As he checked out I started to put my buggy of about 25 items on the belt, and noticed a gentleman behind me, arm full of items. I said oh my, please go ahead of me. He said oh no..go ahead..I backed up, and said oh no, please..set that down and go!...he said are you sure, and i replied..oh yes, I have nowhere to be. He did, and with a whew, he said thank you, and then said..."you know, I should do this more often, come in here and not get a buggy, I think I get less this way, because I can't pick up things I don't need."
We laughed, and I said.."oh that never works for me, I just drop it all over, and end up running back for what I forgot!"...we really laughed.
He proceeded to check out..again saying thanks, and I saying your welcome, but it was nothing.
I put my stuff on the belt, and stepped up to pay, saw money on the counter, and said...OH MY, I think that gentleman forgot his change!..perhaps I can catch him?...
The clerk said.."oh no, he said that is for you, to apply that to your bill!" I was like NO SIR!...are you kidding? I was just flabbergasted!..Such kindness at a time that I needed a lift. I intend to pay it forward! Thank you whomever you are!
http://payitforwardsite.com/stories/stories.asp

posted September 08, 2012 04:42 AM            

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Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.

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posted September 09, 2012 11:00 AM            

Maybe someone has some to share here?

posted September 19, 2012 07:57 PM            

I once had a neighbor who lost her job and barely survived on the unemployment. She tried getting another job that would pay her expenses but they all kept saying she was too educated and thus "get bored and leave" (I really don't get the whole dogma of college giving you a good job when from what I see those jobs are limited and it bars you from so many of the available jobs). And then an evil government worker lied to her and said she had to get a job, any job, or she was going to be cut off, and so she took a McDonald's job that was always hiring & firing (no more than 6 months, IIRC, or they had to pay benefits). She did it until let go and then tried to get back on unemployment and it was readjusted to her minimum wage paying job (this was also when she found out her unemployment would've lasted a lot longer, too, that is someone lied to her for the sheer thrill of sadism). She could no longer pay her bills and had to get on welfare and even with that welfare (that she qualified for in any timely enough manner to be useful) only got her food and she pretty much had to live off of PBJs if she wanted to eat everyday (she did get more at a food bank, but if she got "too much" even from there then her welfare could be cut!). It didn't cover paper products, hygiene, and certainly not for her cat she had for years and told me near crying that she feared she'd have to give up.

So having made some extra money from entertaining at birthday parties I bought a huge sack of cat litter & cat food, got a big roll of paper towels and toilet paper, and a few other products and an envelope with $20 in it (meant to help get her preferred feminine hygiene, etc). But knowing how I personally distrust charity from people I don't know well (I fear the invisible strings attached) and also fearing she might try begging me for more (and I couldn't afford to make a habit of this) I delivered it anonymously in her fenced in back yard (right by the door). I'll never forget carting it all in a wheelbarrow to her place at 2 AM fearing a random cop stopping me because I knew the cops would never buy my story on what I was doing. Luckily I made it (she was less than 2 blocks away) and got back with no problem.

posted September 19, 2012 08:24 PM            

I'd recovered enough that I was functional again (just a little tired) when I got a frantic call from one of the girls I took to the Hannah movie who wasn't entirely coherent but I understood that her mom was really sick, she wasn't allowed to call 911, no one else would help, and they were out of food. So I grabbed some movies for kids along with food and went over. That's when I found out that the kids (her and her little brother) got sick with it at the same time I did but had it worse (throwing up, etc). They bounced back but then their mom came down with it BAD. Personally, I believe if I hadn't shown up that she'd have died (I tried to convince her to get to a hospital but she gave good reasons why she thought that would be pointless and so I didn't push it). She said she couldn't pay me but I said all I expected was if I got as sick as she did that she did for me what I was doing for her.

I basically stayed the whole time and did some major house cleaning and taking care of the kids. Since the girl's birthday was coming up and she was such a Hannah fan I arranged for a Hannah-theme party and even paid for some of it. Her mom recovered by then (though she was still weak and had lost about 30 pounds) and was amazed I'd done it. And her little brother (his own birthday coming up soon) asked me to do a Transformers movie for him (Transformers was playing the same time as Hannah Montana), and so I did for him as well.

Meanwhile I got to know them and their mom better, we saw the Harry Potter movie together (kids included) and had some stimulating discussions over that and other stories (and how some elements worked better in books than movies and vice versa while contrasting the HP novel to movie) and she asked if I could comment on a movie about Texas History, which I did. And we became very good friends.

And then my landlord tried selling the place I had out from under me. Long story short he bought a place he couldn't afford and so he had to sell the place I was at to keep up payments, which he decided to do after showing up and seeing the improvements I'd made (jury rigged and not all that great, but it looked a lot better and was a little better) and thus as an example of how no good deed goes unpunished he decided he could finally put it on the market. At first he tried to raise my rent immediately for having a better place (better because of what I did and arranged to happen at no expense to him) but after I cited rent laws AND threatened to ask the local tax office if THEY thought the place was improved as well (they're infamous for raising your property taxes if you so much as put a post up in your yard) he decided to let me keep renting at what I had but he was going to sell and I'd either have to buy it or make a new deal with the new owner (or get out).

So a friend of mine got a friend who inspects property to look at it and he said the place should be condemned and explained why I had so many problems there and ultimately it would be cheaper to demolish and rebuild rather than fix all the problems, and no bank would give a loan to anyone buying it unless they agreed to buy "as is." I shared this with the landlord who already knew that (and revealed that was why he'd been renting before as he couldn't sell) which is why (after I refused to pay his ludicrous price, even if I could've theoretically gotten a loan which he told me of that I'd likely be eligible for) he demanded I not let anyone who came to see the place know its real condition. Of course I couldn't help myself, when the realtor gave a tour (which I was required to allow) and said something blatantly untrue I'd correct her and then she told the landlord who bawled me out the first time and then the 2nd time gave me the absolute minimum time to get out as I was being evicted.

posted October 03, 2012 02:06 AM            

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Remember, love can conquer the influences of the planets....It can even eliminate karma.

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posted November 17, 2012 12:11 PM            

Anyone saw the movie Pay It Forward? Loved that too!!