Pay It Forward

I finally figured out how to put a new image link on the sidebar.  In keeping with the holiday season, I put up a link for Toys for Tots.  Our family had a good year financially, so I thought it was appropriate to share the wealth, and therefore made a small donation.

On a related note, I have been seeing more mention in the media about the "pay it forward" concept.  Originally, I had no idea what this meant, so I did a little research.  The phrase comes from a book, Pay It Forward, by Catherine Ryan Hyde.  The book is fiction, but its story serves to showcase the pay it forward concept.  The idea is simple: when someone does something nice for you, instead of paying them back you "pay it forward" (do something nice for someone else).  This would then create a chain reaction, where one good deed leads to countless others.

There is now a Pay It Forward foundation, that has some educational resources and other assorted materials.  The phrase "pay it forward" was also mentioned prominently in this week's episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.  Here's hoping that the idea spreads in 2006.