BLOG IN YOUR FACE

Ben Franklin once said (in a letter to someone he had borrowed money too):

“I do not pretend to give such a Sum; I only lend it to you. When you […] meet with another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands, before it meets with a Knave that will stop its Progress. This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”

What an incredible concept. If any of you have ever read the book or seen the movie Pay it Forward, then you know what I mean.

I work the 2-10 P.M. shift Monday through Friday. Jaci and I have been extremely busy with wedding planning and entertaining guests and relatives on the weekends. God knows that I am truly blessed in nearly all aspects of my life, however every person on this Earth is in some way, shape or form in need  of something in their life. Everyone will tell you that there is at least one thing in their life that is lacking; something they need more of: Affection, money, sex, religion, hair, love, happiness etc. For me, I need more TIME.  Nobody but Doc Brown and Marty McFly have ever been able to harvest time, so I suppose I will just have to continue my efforts to make the most out of the time that I do  have.

But God Bless my neighbor, Doug. I came home last night at 10:30 P.M. and my entire front lawn was mowed and trimmed. Something I had been putting off for far to long. I  know that he  knew how busy I have been lately. We talked about it over the fence the other day. Doug may have some voids in his life, but I don’t think that time is one of them. And leave it to a good ol’ Midwestern boy to take something that he has an abundance of and give it away to someone who needs it.

For the most part, that is the single biggest reason I absolutely love this part of the country. People are so willing to give and give and give here. At the baseball game Sunday I saw a Dad order his daughter a snow cone from a roaming vendor. The vendor gave it to the little girl and the Dad got a panic look on his face as he realized he left his wallet in the car. The vendor looked at the little girl and whispered under his breath to Dad, “Don’t worry about it.”

I don’t know where I am going with this and I don’t plan on editing it to make it sound like I actually have a point. All I am saying is that the entire world would be a better place with a little Midwestern mentality…with a little bit of “Payitforwardness”…with a little bit of mowing your neighbors lawn for them…by giving something to someone for free when they probably should have paid for it…

Think Globally, Act Locally.

That’s what I’m going to do. Ben Franklin (and Jesus for that matter): I am not going to let you down. Can one good deed by one measly person make a world of difference in one and/or many  lives? It did for me.

Stay tuned to find out how I pay it forward.