Pay It Forward

I know this is an old phrase from a 2000 movie, but people are repeating it more and more in this tough economy.

I recently saw a story on NBC nightly news about an Atlanta man, who is around age 70, using his retirement money to drive cancer patients to therapy. He drives about 1,000 miles a week and pays for the gas himself, to honor his wife who died several years ago from the disease. He's planning to quit soon, though...when he celebrates his 100th birthday!

On the same newscast, Brian Williams told of a woman on a Maryland toll road. She pulled up to the booth and, to her shock, was told that the car in front of her had paid her toll. She had her $2.00 in hand, so she said, "Take this for the car behind me." She moved up far enough to see the woman behind her hand money to the attendant and motion that it was for the car behind her! There's no idea how far this stretched, but let's hope it reached someone who truly needed it.

On a local note, I got my hair cut yesterday. Much to my hairdresser's delight, I have turned the complete cutting and styling over to her. Yes, I know that my years of experience, cutting and thinning my hair without one day of Beauty/Hairdresser School, is truly amazing, but I got tired of the pressure. As a result of this revelation that maybe she knows more about cutting and styling than I do, my hair now looks current and pretty darn good! (go figure)

But, back to my point about paying it forward. My hair salon Free Spirit Salon and Spa, in Villa Rica, GA, has been offering half-price haircuts to anyone who's unemployed. Lori, my stylist said that it just made sense considering that no one wants to walk around needing a haircut let alone go job hunting! I pointed out that the salon also might get new customers by spreading good will. She seemed to dismiss this by saying, "We just want to help."

We all need to help in this economic downturn, so, Pay It Forward today!

Mary Cunningham Books