Pay It Forward
Essay Preview: Pay It Forward
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My first thoughts on the pay it forward project were excited. I really like the idea of starting a chain reaction that could reach anybody. I was a little hesitant with just going up to random people and doing something nice then asking them to do the same, I was scared how people would react. When we watched the pay it forward movie I saw just how big of an impact one person can make. That truly inspired me. Everyone hopes to do something great and to help change the world, and I felt that with this project I could start something great.
I first random act of kindness was simply giving someone a free meal. My mom and I went out to dinner one night and when we were leaving we stopped at a table next to us and told them that we were going to pay for their meal. I told them that all I ask for you to do is pay it forward. The two people sitting at the table both had no idea what I was talking about. So I explained what pay it forward was, and how it is becoming a huge movement. They thought it was such a cool thing and they were more than happy to keep the pay it forward movement going.
My next act was taking a bunch of old clothes, shoes, some sheets, and some pots and pans to a family in my neighborhood. The lady recently lost her job and has three kids so she had been struggling. When I brought her all the things she was so happy but she didnt understand why I just brought all of it over out of nowhere. I told her I was paying it forward and I asked her to do the same. She told me she had heard of pay it forward before but she didnt really understand how it worked or work you were supposed to do. I explained that now that she has had something done for her she must do something for three others and then they will help three others and so on. She was so grateful for what I did and she said that shed defiantly pay it forward.
For my last pay it forward I went up to a young lady in Wal Mart and just gave her $50. She looked very confused and a little scared even. I think she thought I was a total creep, just coming up to her in a store and handing her money. After I got her to actually take the money into her own hands I told her to pay it forward. She looked at me like I was dumb. She asked me “What do you want me to pay for?” she shook the money trying to hand in back to me. I began to tell her about the pay it forward project. After I got done with my little speech she seemed less tense, and in the end she even said she would pay it forward.
This project has shown me that people usually respond pretty well to acts of kindness, but some people can get rather upset when you just approach them out of nowhere and try to give them something or do something for them, then ask them to do something for someone else. Either way I truly enjoyed this project and it opened my eyes to the world and how it is actually not that hard to change the world and how everyone views it.