Pay It Forward

English 111-IN6

March 22, 2009

Pay it Forward

One my favorite movies, Pay it Forward, features Haley Joel Osment, Helen Hunt, and Kevin Spacey. The movie is based on a book written by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Following the early 2000 publishing of the novel, “Paying it Forward” became a real life movement in an effort to influence a positive social interaction. The movement has grown to include a website and foundation organized for the benefit of people who want to share stories of other people in their lives who pay it forward on a daily basis. In the book, a teacher moves to California to a junior high school social studies class. The teacher’s face is badly scarred, but one boy sees past his scars. It began as an extra credit assignment that had been handed out many times in the past. Nothing significant ever came from it until it landed in the hands of a seemingly average young boy. It was a simple act that soon have an effect on a multitude of people.

His idea was instead of a person repaying a good deed done to them, they would then do three good deeds for someone else. The idea was that it would trigger a ripple effect of people doing good deeds from one person to the next. Initially it was unsuccessful, but soon the idea spread citywide. His home life is troubled by his mother’s addiction and that the fear that his abusive father will hurt his mother. He has a very gentle nature and a heart to do good things, but his life is cut short when he steps in to help a fellow classmate who is being bullied. In his effort to help, he is stabbed by one of the bullies. I found the nature of this young boy to be exceptional. I have had much experience with children of many ages. There were children of many ages who experienced troubles such as his. Most of them seemed angry at life and acted out because of the troubled circumstances they were surrounded by. I found it fascinating that despite the conditions of his home life, he was still inspired to...