Sunday, January 29, 2006

PAY IT FORWARD NOT BACK....


Last night i arrived home late after I accompanied some engineers from Manila who were helping us in configuring and installing the call center solutions for Ariba. We ate our dinner at SunBurst which was just a wall away from the Ariba Call Center. The food was delicious especially the "kinilaw" and the chicken crackers which was made from chicken skin. That night, i was very tired and would want to lie down immediately and sleep like a cow throughout the night. However, I thought of turning the TV on first to check on News Central for any current events of the day. My attention was caught by a movie from Studio 23 Presents which is entitled "PAY IT FORWARD". I was curios, what the hell it means? paying forward ...? or is it the right word was to pay back or maybe it was just one of those jargon used by movie writers. So i decided to watch even if my eyes were really really tired already.

The movie was about a 7th grade boy who was inspired by the assignment given to them by their scarface teacher. The assignment was to think of something that could change the world and put it into action. The one with the best idea will have extra credits for the whole year. So as inspired he formulated the idea of creating a chain like reaction of giving favors to people. The idea was to help or do some favors for 3 persons and each person will do the same to another 3 persons thus it is called paying it forward. The boy started it with a homeless man, his mother and his teacher who give the assignment. Days came and the boy give up because he thought that the favors he gives to the 3 persons were not paid forward. But unknown to him, his mother, the homeless man and his teacher have done their share in paying it forward to another 3 persons. Until it grows and grows and have reached the city, when it was noticed by a young journalist. The movement was then called as the Pay it Forward Movement. So the boy was traced and became instant celebrity for the idea he has started. When asked why did he do it, he answered that everything sucks so he likes to see if the world really change. However the story ended tragically when the boy on the day he was interviewed was stabbed to death by a gangster because of his effort to help the young boy who was beaten by them.

For an hour my eyes were glued to the screen and feeling the compassion that emanates from the movie. The movie ends with all the people from all over the city coming to their small home bringing flowers and candles to pay homage to their son. It was a good movie, something that reminds us that sometimes giving favors to others doesnt always means we have to ask to be paid back. It is one trait that we Filipinos genereally dont have. Because of "utang na loob", we always ask something in return for every favor we give to others in need. We have breed corruption and dishonesty because of our goal to pay back the persons who have helped us.

Imagine if we do this Paying it forward thing....then every one will be helping more people than we ever could imagine. It would be a global revolution, more profitable than Pyramiding scam we have before. PAYING IT FORWARD is one thing that must be part of our Filipino culture instead of that "UTANG NA LOOB" thing. Do you agree with me?......

3 comments:

CDOToday Admin said...

Wow... I thought this is just another boring movie when I heard it before. I am just curious to watched it before because the actor is an award winning little boy, but I wasn’t able to watch it when it was shown in theaters. Again it was advertised at Studio 23 and promised to watch it but I forgot about it when it and missed to watched it. Then I surf for blogs today and saw this article of yours. After reading it… Wow I think I really missed this nice movie… damn I gotta have to buy a copy of this movie… thanks…. Nice blog by the way…

Beauty said...

I learned about a movie similar to giving favors. But hey, "Utang na Loob" have its negative and posiive side. Just like a story, there's a negative and positive side in it. I think it depends on how you draw the perspective, visit http://mtbeauty.blogspot.com for more!

Speed said...

to rob: thanks for reading
to beauty: hehehe la lang im just smiling....ok pod ka comments da kay invite dayon sa imo blog. Pila na imo kita sa adsense?...tagai dayon ko