So... that's cool.
I also promised to open unto you the treasure trove of information that I gained from studying research on the 'Pay it Forward' effect. For those of you not in the know (and it should be pointed out that 'in the know' in this case means being Kevin Spacey proficient) Pay it Forward is a movie in which an idea is presented by which favors are done, and rather than paying back their benefactor, the recipients of these favors are asked to do generous things for three people who they run into. The idea has been around since before the movie of course, but the previous presentations had the unfortunate quality of not containing Kevin Spacey.
So, as it turns out, doing a generous act for someone is not enough to cause significant generous acts on their part. However if given the chance for immediate reciprocation, say scientists Martin Nowak and Sebastien Roch, there often follows a third, unmotivated act of generosity.
This is something to keep in mind while performing acts of whimsy- it is good to give an avenue for reciprocation. While giving them your name seems to go against the anonymity that I adore in so many of the actions, perhaps the website actsofwhimsy.com would be good. Although having a website on a piece of paper or a leaf takes away some of the magic... maybe a phone number they can call that states in audio form the daily act of whimsy so they have an action they can perform without knowing quite what it belongs to. Then a cursory google search will no doubt turn up the details of the situation and if they'd like they can join our community.
Yes, I think I like that idea... I like it quite much. Also, here's a picture.
No comments:
Post a Comment