Paying it forward

Blessings are all around us and one has to become almost silent and unconcerned about the whimsical trivialities of their individual worlds to become in tuned long enough with the Almighty in order to see and appreciate only a few them. The new-age rhetoric on paying it forward comes at a sour time when so many Americans are finding their bank accounts over-drawn and the opportunities of promise laid for us by the forebears of this grand country under-funded and hemorrhaging on new ideas create new wealth that can sustain the ever-growing melting-pot.

Many of the technological advancements birth during the boom of the DOT.COM age of the 1990s have enhanced and enriched our lives, but several have also threatened many of the ways that have traditionally woven fabric of democracy and the American dream. The days when getting our voices heard were made difficult because of the disproportionate number of those in the majority which held the views that only their kind had the right to drink from the fountain of prosperity in the land of the free and the home of the brave have now been replaced by a supersaturated online socially networked group of websites and images that are extending our voices yet many times still silencing their effectiveness.

In today’s world, news and history happens every moment of our lives and those events are being live-fed across the globe in milliseconds into PCs, laptops, handhelds and other mobile devices. Yet as this influx of access to information has heightened our awareness of the world around us we are still at times muted in our daily walk with the real-world people that we come across. I wanted to write about something that spoke to the feeling of gratitude and faith that have been dominating my mind the past few days.


Last night, I had the pleasure of being a part of the clean-up crew at my son’s middle school 8th grade prom. When my wife and I arrived to the gymnasium the many of the excited youngsters were still regaling in the festivities of the evening making lasting memories taking pictures and partaking in genuinely innocent explorations of life. After the clean up was nearly complete, I wandered the hallways silently and stopped outside of the principal’s office. A press clipping of a story recently published in the Garland News was posted on the Jackson Raider News bulletin board had caught my eye. The front page article centered on the efforts of the principal Mr. David Dunphy and the husband of an un-suspecting Alicia Young. Mrs. Young is an eighth-grade social studies teacher whose husband is a sergeant in the United States Army. Sgt. Young teamed up with Mr. Dunphy to coordinate getting his wife to the airport to as a part of the Rest and Recuperation program that greets service members returning home from the war. Sgt. Young would be coming home sooner than the September time frame they had expected. She had witnessed many tear-filled reunions between loved ones and their service members but had no idea that she would be among the few that day to bask in the joy of reconnecting. A lot of people worked very hard to bring a little bit of joy to a single family and I stood in silence for awhile as a sense of pride enveloped inside my person not until I heard my wife bellowing for me in the distance did I break out of the trance.


Walking through the dark desolate parking lot to my vehicle carrying an armful of assorted take home items and still thinking about Mrs. Young's story, I noticed a neatly folded $10 bill on the ground at my feet. I placed the items in the car and reached down quickly to pick up the cash. When Tanya joined me I told her of my find and jokingly said, “I just got paid for my services.” She asked what I was talking about then I produced the fresh Andrew Jackson that I had discovered. She did her best Jane Jetson impersonation grabbing for the money then pouting briefly when I did not release it unto her custody. Fast forward to this morning, the day began with as much hope and opportunity as any other, yet I was still challenged to embrace its full beauty. When we received the news that our friends had become grandparents with the birth of twins my initial thought hardened in the wake of the recent rise in teen pregnancy in this country, but then softened as I began remembering the happiness and joy that comes with bringing a life into the world. My wife sprang up out of bed and shook me requesting that I take the car to get her some gas for the trip to the hospital. Begrudgingly, I arose to go out into the midst of the morning to fill up the tank so Tanya could go and participate in the glory of the day.

I decided to take our little dachshund Roscoe with me on the brief trip to QT. As I started pumping the fuel I playfully tapped on the window to draw his attention away from the papers and plastic water bottles that adorned the floor of the back seat. When this weak attempt to keep his attention away from the plastic and papers had failed. I opened the door and I grabbed Roscoe with one hand and began picking up the trash with the other. I wrestled with my wriggling weenie-dog and a man approached from my six. I turned to face him. I barely remember his face but recall that he wasn’t very tall and wore a wrinkled red hat. He asked if I could spare any change. He continued saying that he had run out of gas and needed a helping hand to make it home. I was rebuffed initially that he would come by my door to ask for money. “Couldn’t he see that I was busy wrestling with my dog?”, I thought angrily. I assumed he was probably just another person trying to get over on the kindness of strangers. I looked over my shoulder and dismissively told him that I couldn’t help because I didn’t have any cash.

Quickly, a huge lump of shame developed in my throat as he walked away and I thought back on $10 that had found its way into my care just last night. The small amount of money did not belong to me and was obviously given to me from above for a specific purpose of which I was horribly missing. I stopped fighting with Roscoe long enough to reach inside my wallet to retrieve the 10-spot. I then scanned the gas station island for the man’s red hat. He had been futilely going up to person after person requesting a helping hand and was being denied assistance. I confidently walked up to him and extended the still folded money and said, “Here you go, I found some cash. God bless you.” He smiled a wide grin, then shook my hand and marched right inside to purchase gas for his trip. I sat silently in my car briefly giving thanks to God for choosing me to be a blessing then drove away with a renewed sense of hope for the future and society as a whole. God pays it forward to us everyday and we should pay it forward to others, too!!