Pay It Forward - Engelska

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* What is Pay it Forward?
About the book.

* The author
Interview with Catherine Ryan Hyde –
The author of Pay it Forward.

* Pay it Forward Movement
Pay It forward – Illusion or reality?


“If someone did you a favour, something big, something
you couldn’t do on your own – and instead of paying it back you paid it forward to three people. And the next day they each paid it forward to three more. And the day after that those 27 paid it forward to another three. And each day everyone in turn paid it forward three more people… in two weeks that comes to 4.782.969 people...”


What is Pay It Forward?

Pay It Forward is a book and a movie, But it’s also an idea.
The book, written by Catherine Ryan Hyde and the movie,
based on the book shows us how a 12 – year old boy, who
with a simple idea changes the world.


Everything in the social-studies teacher Eugene Simonet’s life is in it’s order. Every pencil, every shirt is in it’s place. Eugene is a lonely person. He’s built a wall around him self which prevents other people from coming him too close. And so far that has never been a problem.

Arlene McKinney is a single parent with alcohol problems.
She has two part time jobs and struggles to give her
12 – year old son Trevor a better life than the one she had.

Eugene gives Trevor’s class an assignment:
Look around you - and change what you don’t like to see.
He’s given this assignment to every seventh grader for 12 years now and he doesn’t expect this class to be different from the last years’. He’s hoping, but he’s not expecting that someone of the students will take the assignment seriously.
Eugene is a teacher who gives the students hope. Maybe because he’s lost all hope for himself.
But this year one of the students takes the assignment seriously. Trevor takes it seriously because his own life is so problematic. He has grown up without a father, his mother works all the time so he mostly ends up taking care of himself. He had to grow up earlier then the rest of the children in his age. He needs hope in his life, and he gets it from Eugene.
He gets inspiration from the social study classes. Eugene is a different teacher. He doesn’t just say: Okay class, open the books at page 24 and answer the questions on the bottom of the page. No, Eugene teaches them that social studies are about Themselves and the World.

Trevor comes up with the idea of Pay It Forward. That’s something He can believe in. That’s something he thinks can change His life.
The idea is to “Do something for somebody who can’t do it on his own. And instead of repaying that person you pay it forward to three people.“

Eugene sees himself in Trevor. He sees what he once was and what he could have become. Trevor constantly manages to tear down the wall that surrounds Eugene by seeing behind Eugene’s scars, by seeing Eugene for the person he is.
Trevor’s goal is to help his mum, his teacher and through that maybe himself to. He’s looking for a father, a stabile home. And to get that he tries to get Eugene and his mum together. But at first this doesn’t seem to work. When Trevor brings home a homeless man from the streets to help him and give him another chance in life his mother finally realises the power in Trevor’s plan. And to try to understand her son she turns to Eugene.

All the persons in the book are outsiders in some way. They’ve lost faith in the world and the society.
There are two stories taking place. One where the reporter Chris Chandler is trying to find the one who started Pay It Forward by interviewing persons who have paid it forward. And the other which follows Trevor’s life and attempts to – by Pat It Forward – help people in his surroundings.


The author

Catherine Ryan Hyde, the author of Pay It Forward got the idea for the book after a car accident. Two men had pulled her out of the car and put out the burning engine. They had risked their own lives for her – just a stranger. They saved her car and probably her life. When she wanted to thank them they were already gone. After walking around, trying to figure out a way to get in touch with them to get a chance to repay them in some way, she came up with the idea that instead she could do something good for somebody else who needed help.
Her own “Pay It Forward” was when another woman’s car had stopped and Catherine helped her. Catherine herself didn’t think it was a big deal. Nothing was on fire, no lives were in danger.
But in the woman’s point of view Catherine had done something amazing. She was the first person passing by in one hour and that she cared enough to stop and help her was a huge thing in that woman’s eyes. When the woman asked how to repay it Catherine told her to Pay It Forward to someone who needed it.

- How many times do we pass a homeless person in the street and think: “Oh my god, this person needs help. This person must have a lot of problems“ But how many times do we stop and make that person’s problems our own? I bet everyone has a warm sweater or jacket somewhere in the closet that we never used and wouldn’t miss. Why not take that sweater or jacket and give I to that person on the street?
It’s a new way of thinking. To not only see our own problems but to take a look in another persons life and see if you can help that person. It doesn’t have to be a huge thing. It can only seem to be a huge thing depending on who you help.
- What I have done personally?
Well, I have left anonymous breakfast on the porch of an older lady who had broken her hip ‘til she got better. I’ve given away my car to a younger friend who was in need of one and I paid for the registration of it. I’ve made sure a friends garden was taken care of when he was in the hospital. I’ve offered money to a couple for renovating their house and of course I’ve helped people with car problems.

Pay It Forvard Movement

In September 2001 a movement based on the idea of Pay It Forward was started ...