Growing up, one of my mother and my’s favorite movies was “Pay It Forward.” The film is about a boy who is given a strange assignment in his 7th grade class. The overall goal of the assignment is to do three good deeds for people without any actual repayment. Instead, the next person is supposed to do a good deed for three other people.
I never imagined one of my all-time favorite movies could actually happen in real life. Well, not to me anyway. But it did! That’s why I believe in paying it forward.
When I transferred to Lock Haven University, I didn’t get any financial aid my first year. So I got a full-time job at the local KFC as an assistant manager to support myself.
Every morning at 7 o’clock before my classes, I would rush down to the store to open up for a small group of local retired professors and teachers who would meet there. Each morning, we would talk about how classes were going and what was new at the store. I would then rush out to class. After class, I would rush right back to work at the KFC.
After two semesters, I was drained physically and financially. I took a semester off to save up so I could pay my tuition. One morning, the coffee club guys asked me about school. They assured me that I had a good head on my shoulders and everything would work out. I didn’t feel the same way. I was feeling pretty low and like nothing was going to work out for me.
A few days after our conversation, I got a very surprising phone call from the University saying my bill had been paid in full for two years. “There has clearly been a mistake,” I said.
However, the woman I spoke with told me a check had been sent in from Ronal Bowes for my tuition. I could hardly believe it. It was one of the guys who came to the KFC every morning for coffee.
The next day, I pulled him aside to ask why he was doing this for me. That’s a lot of money to dish out to an almost stranger. He said he saw my potential and he likes to do acts of kindness for people.
He said not to pay him back in dollars, but just to graduate and do good things for others, like he’d done for me.
Words cannot describe how truly blessed Ron’s act of kindness has made me and my mother feel. My mother and I both decided to join Ron’s kindness movement.
My mom sends gifts to the friends and family she doesn’t get to see very often. I do small acts of kindness for strangers, like paying their lunch bill at a restaurant. I’m looking forward to graduating and being able to pay it forward to someone not so fortunate one day, just as Ron did for me. I believe they’ll feel the gratitude and kindness of paying it forward.
Slota is a junior at Lock Haven University. She is majoring in Communications with a minor in International Studies.
