0206F: Paying It Forward


It's easy to dismiss Pay It Forward as a silly little movie that came out while Haley Joel Osment was still a cute yet creepy kid. And while the movie in itself wasn't all that amazing, the concept still makes the social media rounds here and there. I often see the creative pay it forward get shared a few times here and there but I never really get to follow-up on what happens to those things.

But outside of a conscious effort to try and put this into practice, I feel like a lot of my life with Tobie has been about this. Every now and then we'll find a friend in need of some sort of aid. And due to a unique chain of circumstances, we end up being in one of the better positions to help out. And this can mean anything ranging from lending some money or just giving the person a place to crash for a night. And it typically ends with you feeling better for being in the right place at the right time.

What's important is not to see such moments as transactions or a sort. Said person will not "owe us" for the help that we give outside of very large amounts of money, of course. Instead there's just a recommendation to be ready to help someone else later on in life. This feels especially important within the LGBT community. Sooner or later we're bound to need help and you should at least feel like you have friends within the community who will make a genuine effort to provide some sort of aid. So many of us get into trouble because of confusion related to our gender whether friends, family, or even complete strangers. And thus it becomes all the more important for us to pull together and support our own.

Gay people tend to have  a chance to choose their families of a sort. We create our support networks and we do our best to find out which friends will truly support us. The world wouldn't get any better without an honest willingness to help others.

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