There Ya Go
Tara and I last Friday took advantage of a rare night off and went out for dinner. This doesn’t happen very often, so I was hoping for a good night.
First, we had to hit Tracy Lanes to finish out our league bowling season. We bowled a couple days early since we had too much going on Sunday and couldn’t fit it into our schedule.
Then I had the idea to celebrate the end of our bowling season and go out to eat. We decided to head to Balaton at the golf course. We go to The Caboose a lot and the Bitton’s Roadhouse as well, so we thought it’s important to patronize our friends in Balaton.
Balaton Bay Golf Course is under new ownership, and we were curious about what they offered for food. We both had wings and were not disappointed. We both had drinks and were equally impressed.
So we finished our meal and polished off a couple delicious drinks (my advice — try the Dirty Rootbeer, it will change your life). Then I asked our waitress for the check, but instead of her going to the bar to get it, she simply said, “It’s taken care of.”
“It’s what?” I replied.
“Someone told me to put it in on their tab,” she responded.
I asked her who did this and she said she didn’t know who it was.”
I knew some people there that evening, but they left a few minutes after we got there. Everyone else were complete strangers.
Since she didn’t know the kind person who paid our tab, she simply reminded me to “pay it forward.”
Here I thought the whole “pay it forward” concept was a thing of the past, but thankfully it is not. Thankfully there are still people out there who won’t let it die.
It’s been 25 years since the phenomenon hit the big screen in the movie “Pay it Forward,” which starred Kevin Spacey, Helen Hunt and Haley Joel Osment. The movie’s theme was, “When someone does you a big favor, don’t pay it back, pay it forward.” It was based off the 1999 novel by Catherine Ryan Hyde but the expression has a much deeper history.
The concept actually goes back to the Bible (Matthew 18:21-25 where are told that paying it forward is a requirement for those who have received God’s forgiveness. He told a parable of a man who had been forgiven a huge debt by the king, because the debtor had begged for mercy.
Jesus summarized the story by saying, “So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.”
I bet you didn’t know that. I know I didn’t.
Much more recently, in 2007, International Pay It Forward Day was founded in Australia. Pay it Forward Day happens on April 28 and has now spread to 70 countries with over 50 state and city proclamations. It is estimated that it has inspired over 5 million acts of kindness Now it’s my turn to pay it forward. We might never know who perpetrated this kind act and in a way, that’s the point. But if he or she is reading this, I say thank you, not just for paying our tab, but for reminding us there are good people out there.
