April 28th is Global Pay It Forward Day, which got me thinking about the first time I was urged to pay forward a favour instead of paying it back. A keen but poor student, I wanted to enrol in an extra-curricular weekend course. With a catered lunch, the training cost more than I could afford. I approached the trainer and asked if I could lower the cost by providing my own lunch. She agreed, but it was still too expensive. The trainer then asked what I could afford and allowed me to attend for that price. When I expressed my thanks, she waved a dismissive hand and smiled, “You’ll pay it forward one day.”
Of course, she was right. It’s uplifting to receive a favour and equally uplifting to do one for someone else. If I’d been able to afford the advertised price, it would have been a mere transaction, devoid of meaning. Instead, I accepted a moral obligation to look for opportunities to help someone else. The first good deed didn’t wipe the debt, though. Since there was no specific ‘price’, I had to keep doing things for people until I felt that I had done enough.
This is why Pay It Forward Day is such a good idea. Doing things for others brings a lot of pleasure and knowing that they will pass on the benefits means that our gifts are multiplied many times. Soulless monetary transactions make us focus on whether or not we got a good deal, whereas paying forward brings our attention to the joy of contributing. Once we focus more on what we can give and less on what we can get, our happiness levels rise significantly.
Stephanie Hills ©