Paying Forward!

I received an email the other day from a guy named Scott offering to send me a copy of a book written by a fellow blogger, Max Atkinson, entitled Lend Me Your Ears. I was pleasantly surprised by this email as I had never read Scott's blog before and had only commented on Matt's blog once, at almost the exact same time Scott was also leaving a comment.

In his email Scott noted that he was a strong believer in the principle of paying forward. I was unsure what this meant until he explained the principle to me. Basically, the principle of paying it forward is where you do something nice for somebody else without any expectation of anything in return. Additionally, the act should encourage you to do something nice for another. Hence, pay it forward, rather than pay it back.

It dawned on me that I was aware of this principle but I didn't know that it had an actual term. It reminded me of a story a guy told me once about each time he's on a toll road he pays for the car behind him also. He says it makes him feel great knowing that the car behind will be pleasantly surprised at this random act of kindness.

I'll keep you, and Scott updated on how I pay this random act of kindness forward.