Paying It Forward
"Forward ever backward never" is a PanAfrican saying that has been used to encourage people of African descent to continually focus on working towards their future. The phrase has also come to describe not back-tracking to an emotional place or romantic relationship after moving on from said situation. Recently, we contemplated the significance of this phrase and we thought about how could “backward never” be transmuted as it pertains to serving our communities?
Modern social experiments have sprung from the concept, creating ripple effects of "random acts of kindness". Predating these though, are the ancient applications of the idea. In Khemet the Forty-Two Laws of Ma’at was a strict moral code promoting personal responsibility and accountability with a focus on divine evolution. For the ancient Egyptians, as the time came to move on to the afterlife a person’s heart would be weighed against the feather of Ma’at and if that person’s deeds were good, his/her heart would be lighter than the feather. The individual would be granted the honour of traversing eternal life. Other ancient societies placed emphasis on spreading gestures of compassion and generousity as a means to being safe in the hereafter.
Like the ancients, we too can prioritise positively affecting those around us through giving cheerfully and selflessly. We can do something for a person without expecting or requesting anything in return. When the opportunity arises, the beneficiary of the initial good deed can then continue the act. Kindness thus spreads and generousity is magnified. Paying it forward merely requires an open, willing heart. Practical examples are sharing a large tip to a waiter, paying the bill for an unsuspecting fellow customer in a restaurant or mentoring disenfranchised youth. The giving does not have to be monetary or of material things. It can be in the form of time or skills. It's important to note however, that we must give from an overflow because overextending ourselves can be detrimental. Giving from a place of obligation, guilt or from wanting to appear generous defeats the purpose. It is really about tapping into that part of us that desires to bring joy to others.
And if we need something less anecdotal to encourage us to be more generous, studies have found a correlation between giving and lower activity in the area of the brain that produces stress and fear responses. In other words, as we give more, we stress less. Regardless of what our spiritual perspectives are, we all benefit from serving others. So let's find more opportunities to share kindness unexpectedly.
