PAY IT FORWARD
After a movie called “Pay It Forward” in 2000, the idea of creating a chain to make others happy became very popular. In the film a young boy had to think of an idea to change the world. So he started helping other people or being nice to them and some of those people were strangers to him. Then his kindness continued and changed many other people’s lives.
A pay it forward chain started in Starbucks when a woman in her 60s wanted to pay for the next customer’s drink. She bought herself an iced coffee and paid for next customer’s coffee too. That started a chain. The chain continued for 11 hours and 378 Starbucks customers paid it forward. One of the workers of the shop said that there was a great feeling in the coffee shop that day. That made every customer feel happy all day.
Pay it forward is a growing trend around the world now. More strangers pay for other people’s meals, parking tickets and even flight tickets. In October 2014, JetBlue Airlines started Flying It Forward program. Passengers got a free ticket to travel to anywhere in the world and then they bought a ticket for someone that they didn’t know.
Pay it forward is very popular with food services. Rosa’s Fresh Pizza in Philadelphia is just one of those places where customers can pay for others. In the past year, the restaurant gave more than 8000 slices of pizza for free. About 40 homeless people go there to eat something every day.
Of course, it doesn’t have to be about money. You can do any kind of kindness. You can carry someone’s heavy bags, help an old person cross the street or help someone in need. Helping others makes you and the other people happy.
And when this happens to you, don’t forget to pay it forward!