megram - Index

megram - Guide To Spring Fun In Ottawa's West End - Index

Planned giving is a simple,
meaningful way to
PAY IT FORWARD
We have all kinds of words for it:
Random acts of kindness.
Social responsibility.
Paying it forward.
Philanthropy.
Altruism.
Doing good.
Giving back.
Whatever terms you use, the basic
concept is pretty simple. It’s a fundamental,
human desire to help others.
It’s also a concern for human welfare.
It crosses religious, cultural, social
and political boundaries and it is rooted
in the history of western civilization.
Remember the age-old Golden
Rule?
Treat others as you would like to
be treated.
In today’s society, there are all
sorts of public, political, corporate and
individual initiatives to make the world
a better, more humane place.
There’s the Random Acts
of Kindness Foundation, online at
www.actsofkindness.org, which is
committed to spreading kindness.
Paying it forward is an expression –
and a real-life social movement –
based on a novel, Pay It Forward, by
Catherine Ryan Hyde, that was made
into a movie of the same name.
The story goes like this: A young
boy, given a school assignment to think
of an idea for world change, decides to
do something good for three people.
When they ask how they can pay him
back, he tells them to pay it forward to
three people each. And so the good
continues on Ottawa page 18
Due West/Due East Magazine • Spring 2008 Ottawa Page 16