What does the catchphrase ‘Pay It Forward’ mean to pop culture historians reading the term during the 21st century? People who pay it forward to others are never vengeful or in any way pejorative.
Pay It Forward is a key phrase that trended by hashtag on social media websites like Twitter and Facebook in the late 20th and early parts of the 21st century.
People who pay it forward are oftentimes folks who have been helped by someone like a Narcissistic Abuse recovery advocate to understand more about their situation or someone has shown up at just the right time and place to give them a hand solving a problem.
Paying it forward means that rather than offering payment of service, time, or goods back in exchange to the person who showed up to help that you pay the favor forward, literally, to another person.
For example…
If your car breaks down and someone stops to give you a hand, they might refuse an offer for you to pay them for the time and the effort they took to help. Instead they may ask you to “Pay It Forward” — meaning the next time you see someone in need of assistance, whether a car problem or anything else — that you may think of them and the kindness they showed you in a mindful, prayerful way while you offer to do a favor for someone else who may or may not have the ability to repay the debt of gratitude in that minute.
For people who are pro-social by nature, living life in a state of faith the universe will provide is very harmonious with the Pay It Forward lifestyle ethic.
Pay It Forward is also a pop culture reference to the year 2000 when an American romantic drama film based on the novel of the same name by Catherine Ryan Hyde hit the big screen and got all of America talking about how to repay kindnesses when and if one has limited access to social influence or to cash.
Wikipedia defines the gist of the phrase (by definition) as, “Pay it forward is an expression for describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor.”
Paying things forward in a pro-social manner is the foundation of justice and all forms of pro-social and “retributive” (meaning pay-back) karma.
People who are kind and loving toward others are not simply collaborative. Over time, they tend to be the most healthful as well as personally rewarded.
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