Can you change the world

Can you change the world?

Is it possible to change the world?

Can you make it a better place?

Is this an overly utopian idea?

This is a trailer for the film Pay It Forward, starring Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. In the motion picture, social studies teacher Eugene Simonet (Kevin Spacey) gives his class an assignment: look at the world around you and fix what you don’t like. Mr. Simonet’s student, Trevor McKinney (Haley Joel Osment) comes up with a concept for changing the world: “Pay It Forward.” But can you fix people?

You can see more about the film here.

Before it was a hit movie, Pay it Forward was a novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde. Challenged by a teacher to "think of an idea for world change and put it into action," 12-year-old Trevor McKinney decides to do a good deed for three people. Instead of paying him back, Trevor asks them to "pay it forward." The idea catches on and his initial acts of kindness have global consequences. It's a hopeful book for our cynical times.

The concept isn't new, as science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein, used the phrase in Between Planets, a book published in 1951, almost fifty years before C. Ryan Hyde's novel. Heinlein both preached and practiced this philosophy, and now the Heinlein Society, a humanitarian organization founded in his name, does so.

Making a Difference

The premise is fairly simple: you do a big favor for three people. When they ask how to repay you, you tell them to pay it forward to three more people. Each person is then impelled to pay it forward to three more. Nine becomes 27, which becomes 81, which becomes 243. Do the math: in 14 levels we reach a group about the size of the population of Australia.

So, is "Pay It Forward" realistic? And what if your idea doesn't work?

Want to know more? Maybe these links will help:

Pay It Forward Foundation
Pay It Forward Movement
Heinlein Society
Catherine Ryan Hyde
Pay It Forward bumper stickers are available to readers on request. There is no charge. The author asks only that you put them to use where they will be seen.

So it's up to you... can you handle the challenge?

Technorati tags: catherine ryan hyde, empowerment, jargontalk, lexidiem, making a change, pay it forward, robert heinlein, utopian

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Comments (19)

	redpanda6666: 10/24/2007 3:42 PM Such a simple idea to change the world one person at a time.
	Ana: 10/24/2007 7:15 PM love the movie...and also the idea. Great journal!
	photomaker: 10/24/2007 7:18 PM It is a great movie , If you do it , it can lead to some amazing results.
	l0vemyself: 10/24/2007 9:03 PM i love this movie ...( its a great idea )
	heartsapocolypse: 10/24/2007 9:05 PM This is a concept that's time has come. What is remarkable about this concept is that it requires so little of us to make it work. A kind word, a helping hand, a small favor even is a chance for us to say "Pay it forward". It is something I have consciously begun to practice. While I don't usually get to see the "Pay it forward" part, I get to see the immediate reaction from the person, usually a stranger, that I've helped. In my job, I have the chance to practice this everyday and it makes my day better and it makes me better. So, pay it forward...
	sstrokerj: 10/24/2007 9:06 PM Great idea,haven't seen the movie yet
	lillyclaire: 10/24/2007 10:08 PM such a compelling movie ! it could move ones heart ..... thanks for featuring this one Bro !
	goodude: 10/25/2007 1:02 AM i love that movie, saw it 4 times...its doing it one person at a time, one day, everyday...can do!
	mykindanormal: 10/25/2007 7:50 AM i too loved the movie, i read the book first and liked it much better. i try to pay it forward every day so it really touched me. :) thanks for sharing this, a great thing to let everyone know about!
	ArtsySF ©: 10/25/2007 8:06 PM It was a great movie and everyone should practice "paying it forward". I enjoy surprising people unexpectedly with "pay forwards".
	alissaj: 10/26/2007 11:17 PM This movie is so inspirational. I feel so elated and ready to change the world one person at a time when it is fresh on my mind. The movie has some very sad aspects, but is very much worth the sadness. I will admit, I try to use the coined term to strangers as much as I can. Generosity is contagious.
	showban: 10/27/2007 5:23 AM i saw this movie ; i think that it's just an "utopia " there is an expression in french "chacun pour soi et dieu pour tous " "every man for himself and god for all" , it's like that ; you can help somebody , but , you want to somebody help you ;
	JargonTalk ©: 10/27/2007 6:23 AM showban said: i saw this movie ; i think that it's just an "utopia " there is an expression in french "chacun pour soi et dieu pour tous " "every man for himself and god for all" , it's like that ;you can help somebody , but , you want to somebody help you ; Sorry, but I disagree... completely. If you're a Nihilist and completely without conscience or values that's true. If you blindly accept as gospel some of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist philosophy, then it's again true... and a bit utopian in its own form. But the point is not that "you want to somebody help you," it's that you can do this without asking for pay back. You want the person you help to pay it forward, to do a favor for someone else, then ask them to pay it forward to one, three... perhaps even dozens. It's not about "what's in it for me," it's about what's in it for the next person, and so on. Read the links, as I'm sure that it's much better explained there. And if you're wondering if it can even work here on Buzznet, just read this insightful journal entry Paying it forward from Heartsapocolypse, a Buzznet Original who lives by that philosophy, almost constantly. She's proof that it can and does work.
	kassady: 11/04/2007 10:25 AM I loved this film. My its my son's favourite too - and i cry every time i see it even though i know whats coming. I havent read the book but id like to because Catherine Ryan Hyde has a gentle writing style and i enjoyed reading Love in the Present Tense.
	buzybuzzin: 11/06/2007 8:50 AM This makes you think about things other then work and busy life.Wierd as it sounds, I think I'm going to do something nice. I love this journal.
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