Do a partial bailout.
America is a great country. I wouldn't want to live in any other country in the world. Circumstances that can change a person's life can happen at any moment. A person can be rich one moment, and destitute the next. America is a rich nation, but it has just gone through an economic downturn 2nd to the Great Depression. The current administration has done what it could for some companies, but what if you could get involved.
Not with companies, but with people.
I now appoint you as head of "Partial Bailouts in your world". I know you'll do a great job.
The world is connected, whether you admit it or not. Helping someone can start a ripple of kindness that can reach around to you one day. Can you change the world on your own? No, but you can affect your world, where you live? You know the answer, and that's in the post today.
So, let's set the boundaries for this. Tell yourself that the next time someone asks for money, you'll give what you can. No thought of whether the person deserves it or not. Choose an amount; $5, $10, $20, whatever. Set it aside. It's a 'gift' for the next person you will partially bailout. Now, to find the person.
You may be standing in a line for coffee, in a line to pick up take out, in line at the store, anywhere really. Put on your "kindness glasses," and as you go throughout your day, begin to look around for your partial Bailout "winner". You may sense, what I will call an "inner nudge," when you see the person that has "won" the partial bailout. I would encourage you not to look on the exterior of the person, as you do this. Sometimes the people that look all put together on the outside, are falling apart on the inside. Your eyes are not always good guides for giving acts of kindness.
So, you know you winner. Now, the hard part comes into play, giving the "prize" money away. If you are behind someone, you may want to tell them, that you want to pay for their coffee today. If you are in front of someone in line at a fast food restaurant, give the money to the person at the drive thru window and tell them its to pay for part of the next order. If someone is a random person, you can hand them the money and tell them that they dropped it.
Note: You will find that people don't want the money, or refuse to let you pay for their food, coffee, etc. I would suggest letting them know that you are "paying it forward," or asking them to hold the money til they find someone else that needs it, and give it to them.
Thank you for participating in this. I really would like for you to come back and let me know stories of what happened.
Great book with more great ideas.
101 Ways to Reach Your Community
http://cmp.ly/5
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6 comments:
Today feels like a pay it forward kind of day... think I'm going to give it a GO!!
oh.. cool. I'm going to execute it..
That's great idea! It would be a great thing if people do it...
I had a recent "pay it forward" experience...
One day we were driving somewhere and noticed a person trying to push their broken down car out of traffic. I pulled our car over and we helped him push his car onto a side street. We then gave him a ride home (about a mile). He was very appreciative and said he wished he had something to repay us with. I told him that it was our pleasure, and next time he saw someone in distress, to make sure he that he helped them, as we just helped him. He promised that he would do so...
This is awesome. Although I believe that I "pay it forward" on a regular basis by supporting unknown troops with surprise letters and packages, I will make it a point to do something here at home.
What a fantastic idea! I do tend to judge when giving money to someone who asks. It's mostly out of fear for safety or just being scammed. But I always feel guilty. I'm going to try this out and see what happens.
I'm going to do this! ASAP. Thanks for the encouragement and the cool ideas on the how to's. Men always come up with the practical ways to do things.
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