RE: Pay it forward...
December 28, 2014 at 2:00 pm
(This post was last modified: December 28, 2014 at 2:03 pm by bennyboy.)
Another reason to "pay it forward" is that it eliminates the guilt that the receiver can have. They owe you nothing, right from the first moment, and they are free to choose the moment of paying it forward. If they are never able to do so, they can just keep saying, "If I ever have a little extra, I'm looking forward to helping someone out."
All through my 20s, I had better jobs than most of my hippie musician friends, and I was constantly "lending" them not only money but also musical instruments, none of which I would ever see again and we both knew it. I didn't mind-- for me the payoff was knowing that a few bucks' investment would let my friends enjoy their campfire guitar playing or drum circles or whatever for a couple weeks without having to worry about food. I got to enjoy the gift vicariously through their happiness.
And that's the best reason to be generous, IMO. For an amount that is trivial to me, I can enjoy knowing that I've had a non-trivial beneficial effect on someone else's day. Not to put too fine a point on it, but-- Yay, me!
All through my 20s, I had better jobs than most of my hippie musician friends, and I was constantly "lending" them not only money but also musical instruments, none of which I would ever see again and we both knew it. I didn't mind-- for me the payoff was knowing that a few bucks' investment would let my friends enjoy their campfire guitar playing or drum circles or whatever for a couple weeks without having to worry about food. I got to enjoy the gift vicariously through their happiness.
And that's the best reason to be generous, IMO. For an amount that is trivial to me, I can enjoy knowing that I've had a non-trivial beneficial effect on someone else's day. Not to put too fine a point on it, but-- Yay, me!
