What Can You Do To Change the World?

Instead I am going to post what others have done for me, and I hope this will be okay.

The pain and suffering that others go through on the other side of the globe show me what I should not take for granted, and so I do not.

The world, and my family, and my friends, and you, and ATS are teachers, and they are always teaching, and they are teaching me more every day. They teach me what it means to be human, and in the human experience, and how to express myself and understand the expression of others.

and the other day I helped a person pull their car off the road when it had broken down.

Peace and love!!!

reply to post by Frank_Rizzo



i think random acts of kindness are the best way to brighten another persons day, as well as your own. Apparently I've always had this urge to make others happy, I was reading some papers from like 2nd grade where I wrote that I loved to see other people happy and I want to do all kinds of things to make people happy. That attitude had carried through to me now at 20 years old.

So I had this idea, because I do random acts of kindness daily, but the theory of paying it forward appeals to me. I want to make little flyers, and have them laminated. Each of them will have like an inspirational quote of some sort, and it will say "You are an amazing, spectacular person. Never doubt how wonderful you are. Be HAPPY!" and then at the bottom I want to put "Pass this on to anyone, a stranger, a family member, or just leave it for someone to find." I want to make a bunch and put them in random places...leave them with my guests' bills at the cheesecake factory; hand them out at a football game; leave them on windshields; pass them out on campus. What do you all think? Anything you think I should do differently? Maybe you'll end up with one

I felt the need to at least state this:

Every day we (the people) are surrounded by a constant influx of negativity. Whether it be the media (I refuse to watch the news anymore), or negative thoughts which can permeate to other people around us i.e. drama (ours or other persons).

I suppose I felt a lot of negativity in and around myself and others that I came into contact with, which caused me to consider a 180 in my emotional state of being and way of thinking. I like what has been happening to me since I decided to start this thread. My mind has been occupied by more and more positive energy since I did so, even in my dreams.

Maybe not that many people will post in this thread, and that is OK with me. Either way, it is good to know what is on the minds of others in this forum. I for one support positive thinking and the outcomes that one can produce or become a catalyst for.

and before anyone posts, NO, I am not saying everyone else here DOESN'T support positive thinking.

That being said, I am glad that this is a place that I can come to and recieve feedback (whether good or bad) on anything I find to be post-worthy.

Thank you ATS for being here!

Rizzo...have faith

As you mentioned, even a polite smile at a passing stranger in the street who seems to be having a bad day can have a real effect...It's happened to me often enough that I now pay-it-forward

At the moment it's the middle of Ramadan, and the other day as I was on my way to the shop, I passed an elderly gentleman walking slowly with his walking stick returning from prayers at our local mosque. Just before we passed in the street, I gave him a polite smile, bow of the head and offered a "salaam alaykum" to which he returned the smile with enthusiasm and replied "alaykum salaam" and we each went on our way...

I doesn't take much effort to understand one-another's culture or faith and that fleeting momentary greeting of a stranger with a 'peace be upon you' lasted for a long while

In a hectic world with so little time to enjoy the things we truly want to enjoy, being slaves to our jobs and the mounting bills that come in, annoyance, frustration and impatience overwhelm every waking moment.

But then the lady upstairs (me) decides to stop wearing makeup and as she was cleaning out the vanity with brand new bottles of this and brand new tubes and jars of that, she thought of the young woman downstairs that barely gets by. So with boxes and boxes in hand she knocks on the door to the downstairs apartment and hands the boxes to the young girl. It was like Christmas in September!

We had a "Pay it forward" thread here in the now defunct Social Issues forum and it was pretty great. Here's PODcast by Chissler on the subject that I highly recommend listening to.

www.podtrac.com...

Originally posted by citizen smith
As you mentioned, even a polite smile at a passing stranger in the street who seems to be having a bad day can have a real effect...

This is something I was told once and it's always stuck with me. There is a metaphorical "fabric" of goodwill that is wrapped around the earth. People's selfishness and greed wear at the fabric and it gets torn and tattered in places by acts of random violence and hatred between people.

ANYTHING we do that can add, even the tiniest bit, to that fabric of goodwill is worth doing! A smile or kind word can make someone's day!

So, do whatever you can to add to the fabric of good will. It all makes a difference! And changes the world.

[edit on 10-9-2008 by Frank_Rizzo]

reply to post by peggy m


That's great Peggy!!!

Opened a few doors, and a heck of a lot of smiling here. That is all I have to report tonight. Maybe I'll have a good one for everyone tomorrow.

reply to post by Seekingmyself


That sounds like a great idea you've got there!!! Talk about customer service! I look forward to coming home every night and checking to see if there are more stories here.

A feel-good Thread! Yeah!

It's going around full circle I guess:

Yesterday I was working on the lawn when my mower decided that it wasn't going to work for me any longer. Just when I was about to give up and take a break, my neighbor with mower rolling up with him said "here, try this one." I stopped, chuckled to myself and replied "Thank you". He continued by telling me, he had seen me struggle once before, and heard my mower "trying" to start and figured he would head over to my place and help me out. I told him I appreciated it very much, and soon I would assist him if and when he was in need.

My lawn is now nice-looking, green, and best of all...Mowed!!!

If everyone cleaned up their own little corner of the planet (their own lives) ... and learned how to live by the 'stay off my lawn and I'll stay off your lawn' saying ... the world would be a better place.