The Buzz

Paying it forward

By Marlene Bohr

Lots of messages are posted on Facebook in recent weeks about helping others, i.e., paying it forward or random acts of kindness. Wonderful things can happen when people are interested in the problems of others and offer a helping hand. Everyone needs a lift of one sort or another during the course of life.
Some people have posted they have an extra bed, appliances they can donate to someone who needs them, just for picking the item up. Some people will even offer to deliver the item. With fires in our communities this year, people have offered a myriad of things to help the families get on their feet and back to normal living.
You know, there are a lot of things we can do to help others. Paying it forward as a modern day terminology comes to life. Our hearts go out to someone who has experienced an unfortunate incident, and the natural thing for most of us to do is want to help. People who are fortunate enough to have the means to help others are blessed to be able to help.
What if you are not that fortunate and want to help anyway?  There are many things that can be done for a person or family that don’t cost us a thing but our time. In the spring many, many people need assistance with cleaning up their yards, such as raking leaves and hauling off limbs. You might have a neighbor or know of someone who is elderly or disabled or even a single parent raising children that could use some help along those lines. A neighbor and his son recently volunteered their help to me when they found out I had suffered a recent injury. In no time, they had mowed my yard. Just something that took them less than an hour was so appreciated. 
I am sure there are many people in our area that could use an extra hand in some form or another. We can do many things for others to help along the way that don’t cost us a thing. When you see a neighbor or even someone you don’t know, offer them a smile. That doesn’t cost a thing, and you may just have lifted the spirits of that grocery store clerk or someone you passed in the drug store or on their way in the post office.
Be considerate of others that you meet, live with, or work with every day. Share the highway with others instead of grumbling if someone is in your way. Maybe you don’t think they drive so well that day, but you don’t know if they have a family crisis, are in pain, or something else is bothering them. Road rage is really an awful thing. We all need a little understanding now and then. Maybe that person is elderly and going slower than you think they should. You may be that elderly person in a vehicle one of these days trying to get to the store, doctor, or church.
It never hurts to give everyone a smile, share encouraging words, and help lift someone’s spirits. Try it—you will find the benefits are out of this world.