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BS: Pay it Forward
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Subject: BS: Pay it Forward From: Morticia Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:27 PM I have just sobbed my way through this movie and seem to think I read somewhere that there was an actual movement at some time that involved people going around doing random acts of kindness.Did I imagine that, or does someone else remember the article/news story? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:32 PM Well the idea it was pretty central to Christianity to start with, but things went a bit pear-shaped later on. Love your neighbour, do good to those who hate you. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: dick greenhaus Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:32 PM That's what DigiTrad is all about. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Amos Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:40 PM Yes there was -- not unprecedented, but there was a bumper sticker and bathroom sogan going around that promoted "Practice random kindness and senseless acts of beauty", a first rate philosophy. It caught on and multiplied. Since it rose in public awareness around 1997-8, foundations, list groups and all other sorts of self-forming organizations have sprung up on the theme. Try putting "Random acts of kindness" into Google and you'll get about 32,000 hist on the phrase. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: katlaughing Date: 12 Nov 02 - 06:42 PM There is a movement which was started by the woman who wrote the novel which the movie was based on. You can read her words about it and the stories people have posted HERE. Dick's right, the DT and the Mudcat are two prime examples of good people doing just that.:-) Do you need a clean hankie, Mortee?**bg** luvyadarlin', kat |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: catspaw49 Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:00 PM It's a one time watcher ain't it? Loved it, but once was enough............helluva' tear-jerker. From the "Bhagavad Gita"...a favorite passage of mine: In battle, in forest, At the precipice in the mountains, On the dark, great sea, In the midst of javelins and arrows, In sleep, in confusion, in the depths of shame, The good deeds a man has done before defend him. Spaw |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Joe_F Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:20 PM About 40 years ago, I read a newspaper column in which the columnist reported that he had received a telephone call in which a stranger cursed him at length without stopping long enough to discover that he had dialed a wrong number. The columnist reflected that it had amused him, had probably done the caller good, and in fact had made the world better off than if he had dialed correctly. So he dialed a couple of random numbers and bawled out whoever answered. He hoped the chain was still going. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Lepus Rex Date: 12 Nov 02 - 07:29 PM Sorry, but this movie blew dog rod. The only "random acts" I felt like doing after this film were not kind, and not especially random, considering that I wanted to direct them specifically at Kevin Spacey with the back of my hand. Awful. Again, sorry. :) ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Clinton Hammond Date: 12 Nov 02 - 09:57 PM Shows what Lupis knows... evidently, not mucking fuch... If you were sorry, you wouldn't have posted at all... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: khandu Date: 12 Nov 02 - 10:21 PM Actually, I started the "Random Acts of Kindness" movement in the 1970's. It was originally called "Random Acts of khandu", but people started writing about it in the newspapers and spelling "khandu" with a capital "K" which I could not tolerate. So I called a reporter up and cussed him out. I cussed him for several minutes and then I was told I had a wrong number, but the guy was not offended. He said he was amused and thought that, since it did me good to blow off, that he would call a random number and cuss someone out. It caught on. Being somewaht non-gregarious, I withdrew from the scene and have not, until now, confess to having started these two movements. khandu |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Tweed Date: 12 Nov 02 - 10:53 PM Goddammit khandu, It were YOU started that? I just got off the phone with some maniac who cussed me for ten full minutes. I ain't never heard or used such language and I have a fairly good command of blasfemious epithets. I think it may hav killed the sonofabitch as he was weezin' and gasping perdy strong towards the end. I shore hope so anyhow. I'm off to call the phone company and give them shitheads on the nitecrew a piece of my cashew-sized mind... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: khandu Date: 12 Nov 02 - 10:55 PM Dat's right Tweedster! Pay it Forward! k |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Lepus Rex Date: 13 Nov 02 - 12:12 AM To be honest, I wasn't really sorry, Clinton, so I probably shouldn't have said so twice. It really was an awful film. Yucky and saccharine and false and "gosh ain't humanity swell", like a really, really bad Lifetime movie starring Judith Light and Craig T. Nelson. The premise, that the world would be a better place if we were all a little kinder to our neighbors, is pure crap. Please, go out, "pay it forward," people. You'll have me and 6 billion other people waiting for that expensive operation, free car, bus seat, etc. People are selfish and evil, and that's what makes life fun and unpredictable. The "tear-jerker" ending had me howling with laughter, though, so I guess I can't say I didn't get any enjoyment out of it. The only thing yuckier than the story was that the horribly disfigured black man from the book was magically transformed into a lightly-toasted white man for the film. ---Lepus Rex |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Morticia Date: 13 Nov 02 - 07:30 AM If you don't believe in random acts of kindness or in the essential good in the world, I would suggest you don't see half of what goes on under your very nose right here on this forum.As to the sacharine nature of the film, I stand unashamed of my tears or admiration for a film that appeals to our better rather than baser nature.....oh and Lepus......bite me *BG*. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Kim C Date: 13 Nov 02 - 09:44 AM Well, I think people are mostly good. Some of them really suck, sure, but that's just the way it goes. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: GUEST Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:35 AM I come down in the middle on this issue--between Morticia and Lepus Rex. I practice random and senseless acts. As for you khandu, we better see you march straight over to the "Ten obscure facts about you" thread, and confess your sins right this minute. Or else. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: MMario Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:43 AM What I find strange - is that many people have more trouble in receiving than in giving. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: katlaughing Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:53 AM It's that ancient thing, MMario...we ate the apple, we're not worthy.:-) "Tis better to give than to receive" etc. It's a really good thing to learn to accept, though! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: GUEST Date: 13 Nov 02 - 10:59 AM Ah, MMario, it isn't more trouble receiving than giving. It is one's tolerance level for shmaltz. One can be genuine, loving, generous and receptive--all those things, without being maudlin, sentimental, and (shudder) nice. In fact, for some of us, the maudlin, the sentimental, the nice, are warning flags for insincere, guilt induced, manipulative appeals to human's baser instincts, not higher instincts. It is much easier to get something out of someone if they like you. If they like you a lot, and believe you to be kind, it is even easier. Everything has it's dark side. Best to live in balance with it, rather than shove it under the parlor rug when company comes to call. That just means it will rear it's ugly head at the most inopportune moments, making everyone feel awful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Pied Piper Date: 13 Nov 02 - 11:38 AM About 10 years ago some session musician mates and myself started saying thank you to buss drivers as we disembarked. It's now pretty well universal practice here in Manchester UK. I suspect that we weren't the only ones, who had the idea, but I think the relationship between the drivers and the public has improved. Not Random but directed, treating people that provide services as human beings rather than servants helps. Just talking to complete strangers at bus stops makes a difference (I guess this doesn't apply in the US as much). There is such a thing as society but we have to make it happen. All the best PP PS I'm not having a go at the phone thing, although I think it might not work that way here in the UK. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: Amos Date: 13 Nov 02 - 11:58 AM GUEST 13 Nov 02 - 10:59 AM Well spoken, Mister O'nonymous. Like the set of your jib --wish I knew your name! A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: MMario Date: 13 Nov 02 - 12:04 PM oh - I agree with the nameless one of 10:59 as well - but even considering that - many people *DO* have a problem with receiving |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: GUEST,John Gray in Oz Date: 13 Nov 02 - 01:25 PM MMario. As my now ex-wife lost all our money on poker machines and ,at 55, I'm now broke and without a roof of my own, I will have no trouble at all in receiving $100,000 for a cheap house! Arrgghh well - the rain beating on the tent does have a kind of contentment. JG/FME |
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Subject: RE: BS: Pay it Forward From: GUEST Date: 13 Nov 02 - 01:33 PM So JG, where do you plug in the computer and hook in yer modem in that tent there? I'm intrigued! |