PAY IT FORWARD LIKE I DID

Yesterday, I had an interesting and humbling experience.  I was in line at Trader Joe's while on my lunch break.  There was one person in front of me at the register and she had just finished checking out.  She paid for her groceries with a gift card.  The remaining balance of the bill was $2.93.

She swiped her debit card and it was declined.  It actually showed up on the screen as insufficient funds.  She apologized and asked if they could take something out that would make it less than $3.00.  The cashier called the manager over and, in all fairness, they were very nice in trying to figure out how to do it.  Apparently though, they couldn't because of the fact that the transaction had already been completed.  Since the main part had been paid with a gift card, they could void the entire transaction but because it was a gift card, the money couldn't be put back on the card or refunded to her there.  She could get it back, but would have to write to the gift card company and provide receipts.  She kept apologizing and said she was so embarrassed that she didn't have the $3.00 in her account because it was in between paydays.

I reached in my pocket and pulled out $3.00 and handed it to the cashier.  The young lady almost started crying.  She thanked me, the cashier thanked me and then she said she wished she could do something to repay me.  I asked her to just "Pay It Forward".  She said she would.

She left and the cashier and manager told me that it was a pretty nice thing to do.  I told them that as I stood there listening to her, I realized that I am indeed fortunate.  I just recently bought a new car, I have a job that I love, I have health and happiness, heck, we even have the farmhouse and land that we are slowly building our dream place to retire to.  We truly are blessed and yet someone else standing in front of me had trouble putting together a small amount of money, an amount many of us throw away on a cup of Starbucks.  I didn't even give it a second thought.  In that moment, it was the right thing to do.  Did it change the world?  No, of course not.  But for that young lady, it might have made a small difference, at least for a bit.  And who knows?  Hopefully she will pay it forward and help out someone else in a small way and in that sense, it will continue out from there.

We're all ripples on a great big pond aren't we?  What good is success or happiness if you can't share it with someone who might need it?  Showing kindness and generosity to others, especially when it's unexpected, is a great responsibility, one we should all take seriously.  You never know when one small, simple act can have a greater impact than you could ever imagine.

Practice random acts of kindness and then
pay it forward...it does a body, spirit and soul good!