A New Year of Goodness and Kindness
What can I, one person among 7 billion, possibly do to make a difference? So many messages streaming our way daily continuously remind us of how insignificant we are in this world. Some scientists in particular insist on telling us how our lives are an accident, with no true meaning and purpose, and we are no different than any of the trillions of “selfish” cells and bacteria in existence. But then comes along a refreshing piece of news that upsets the whole meaningless life equation and demonstrates — with a message that resonates in each of us — the beauty and dignity of each individual life, and the power of each individual act.
A recent New York Times article (Ma’am, Your Burger Has Been Paid For) describes a new trend spreading across the country of people paying for meals being ordered by cars behind them in drive-through eateries. “Drive-through generosity is happening across America and parts of Canada, sometimes resulting in unbroken chains of hundreds of cars paying in turn for the person behind them.” Cynics and skeptics — and some radical biologists — are taken aback by this phenomenon, which seems to go against the very narcissistic nature dictated by a “survival of the fittest” driven life. Why, they wonder, would anyone pay for someone else without any expectation of return? It’s one thing to repay a kindness to someone who was kind to you. But “pay it forward” means to repay a kindness by being kind to someone else rather than the original benefactor. And yet, this trend of goodness gone viral cannot be denied. It teaches us how your one act of paying it forward can have a butterfly ripple effect that changes the world.
Please join Rabbi Jacobson in this New Year workshop discussing how we can enter the year empowered with the knowledge and the confidence that each of us can and must make a difference. Every person has his or her unique energy, which is triggered by our acts of goodness and kindness. When we appreciate the blessings and gifts given to us, we can unleash a forward thrusting force that can change everything around us. Discover how to create a revolution this year in your personal life and in the lives of others — a pay it forward revolution that will have a perpetual impact on everything and everyone.