[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 135 (Wednesday, October 25, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1898]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             PAY IT FORWARD

                                 ______
                                 

                             HON. TOM UDALL

                             of new mexico

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 24, 2000

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. Speaker, I would like to call to your 
attention a concept that I believe has the potential to inspire all 
people, but particularly middle-school children. It's a unique idea 
called ``Paying it Forward.'' I am only too pleased to tell my 
colleagues about this idea.
  The idea I am referring to has been encapsulated in the book by 
Catherine Ryan Hyde entitled ``Pay it Forward.'' This book was also 
recently released as a motion picture. It is the tender yet powerful 
story of Trevor McKinney, a twelve-year-old boy with a vivid 
imagination and a paper route, who takes to heart the challenge of an 
extra-credit assignment for his Social Studies class: Think of an idea 
for world change, and put it into action. Responding to the challenge, 
Trevor chooses three people for whom he will do a good deed. Then, 
rather than allowing them to pay him back, he tells them to ``pay it 
forward'' by doing something good for three more people. In turn, those 
three people are to help three more people and so on. In this way, 
Trevor believes his acts of kindness will multiply out, geometrically, 
until the world is a different place. Mr. Speaker, in the end, ``Pay It 
Forward'' is the story of seemingly ordinary people participating in 
the extraordinary through the simple faith of a child.
  It has been brought to my attention that there is a Pay It Forward 
Foundation. The purpose of the foundation is to encourage middle school 
children to get involved in their local communities and to ``pay it 
forward.'' As children create their own ideas for how to pay it forward 
with their schools and communities, teachers can incorporate relevant 
social needs and current affairs into their discussions. A Pay It 
Forward project can be applied to all aspects of academic institutional 
life. This is a worthy mission that not only helps the surrounding 
communities, but also helps our students realize that they can change 
the world. Quite frankly, that is a message that is long overdue. It is 
a message about overcoming the belief in our individual cynicism that 
has resulted in withdrawal from participation in our governmental, 
educational, and community activities. I encourage each and every one 
of you to take the message to heart. We can never do enough to make the 
world a better place.




                          ____________________