Sunday, November 11, 2007

Paying it forward

In our weekly homage to Starbuck's, my husband D went in to get us pumpkin-spice latte's and a kids hot chocolate for the Sugarplum. He actually read his cup today and it told a story of a Starbuck's drive through in Riverside where someone spontaneously decided to pay for the order for the car behind them. That person was so inspired they paid for the order behind them. This lasted for 7 cars.

Those are the kinds of stories that make me want to be a better person. It's great to volunteer your time, donate funds to organizations that desperately need it to help people or give a few extra toys to the Marines during the holidays, but these stories of selflessness, of just doing something nice purely for the sake of doing something nice for someone are the things that really get me.

I wonder if the 8th person who just accepted their drink and didn't pass it along would feel like a schmuck knowing that 6 people in front of them reacted the opposite and passed on the same generosity.